Lost in the Winds
by playing-in-the-mud
Summary: The School is a place of illegal human experiments and they have recently taken an interest in demigods. Specifically Percy Jackson. When Percy finds himself trapped in this world, how will he escape, especially when he cant even remember his own name...
1. Chapter 1:  Taken

**Hey! Even though this fanfic is technically a Percy Jackson and Maximum Ride crossover, I put it just under Percy Jackson because it barely has any Maximum Ride content in it. The things I took from Maximum Ride are the ideas for the School and the Erasers. If you don't know what those are, the School is a facility that performs human experiments and the Erasers are one of those experiments who turned out to the wolf-human hybrids. Don't worry the story eventually explains it.**

**Summary: The School is a place that performs illegal human experiments and now they have taken an interest in demigods. Specifically, Percy Jackson. After the Titan War, Percy finds himself trapped in this seriously messed-up world. How will he escape? Especially when he can't remember anything...**

**Just a side note, Percy no longer has the Mark of Achilles for reasons I probably won't explain.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Maximum Ride.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - Taken<strong>

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><p>"Annabeth!"<p>

Percy looked around for his girlfriend slightly annoyed. For their first day of summer before they headed off to camp, Percy and Annabeth decided to spend the whole day together in a museum. Apparently, the museum had a special exhibit on Greece and Rome, and as a late we-didn't-die-last-summer-during-Kronos's-evil-inv asion present to Annabeth, Percy had promised to take her.

Big mistake.

First of all, the museum was HUGE. It reminded Percy of the summer spent in the Labyrinth, a memory that he did not care to have resurfaced. The halls twisted and turned and led to endless corridors filled with more paintings, statues, and things that looked like the stuff Percy's dog, Mrs. O'Leary, was constantly digging up at camp. To sum it up, the museum was filled with things Percy Jackson did not understand or care to understand. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his overenthusiastic girlfriend.

Who knew that she loved art that much? Then again, her mother was the goddess of artistry as well as wisdom.

Annabeth had dragged him from one exhibit to the next and sometimes all together disappeared. Now, Percy had not seen her for a nearly an hour, and he was starting to get worried.

Don't get the wrong idea; he wasn't so worried about Annabeth (she could take care of herself), but until they had gotten separated, she had been his only way to navigate in the large facility. So basically, Percy Jackson, the powerful demigod that had defeated Kronos in the Second Titan War, was utterly and hopelessly lost.

Percy sighed and walked over to a map. He took one glance at it and growled in frustration.

Like most demigods he had dyslexia. Add who-knows how many hours in this stupid museum and a missing girlfriend to his dyslexia and you get one unreadable map. At least, unreadable in the eyes of said demigod.

He would have better luck scouring the whole three stories of the museum than trying to decipher the map.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled again, turning away from the offending map.

"Lost, Seaweed Brain?" a mocking voice sounded to his right.

Percy whirled around and breathed a sigh of relief when he met the piercing grey eyes of his girlfriend.

"Annabeth," Percy repeated, trying to smooth out the frustration he had been feeling for the last hour. "Are you done looking at this old stuff?"

"Are you kidding? I could spend a whole week in here! But—" Annabeth Chase paused, allowing a small smirk to form at the slightly panicked look of her boyfriend "—I guess we can go."

Annabeth turned around to leave, and Percy gladly trotted after her.

Percy's let out the second sigh of relief for that evening only to have it cut short by Annabeth's next comment. "We can come back another day and finish looking at all the other cool stuff in here."

Percy groaned inwardly and then picked up his pace, not wanting to be stuck in the museum for the night.

Annabeth and Percy exited the building and began to work their way towards a bus station that would take them closer to camp. From there, they would hitchhike to their favorite place in the world—Camp Half-Blood.

Once outside, Percy looked at the already darkened sky. "How long were we in there?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Nine hours, I think. I could have stayed longer. The stuff in there was amazing! Even if some of the information was wrong…"

Percy smiled as Annabeth continued talking, her eyes gleamed like the way they did when she talked about architecture. During these times, Annabeth went on and on about whatever it was, talking about things only she or one of her siblings would understand. Percy wisely kept his mouth shut and took her hand in his.

They had reached the bus station, which looked strangely deserted. Percy looked around trying to figure what time the bus would be coming, but gave up when no clock could be found in the general area.

Something shifted in the darkness, and Percy nearly jumped out of his skin when a man walked out from behind him to stand on the other side of Annabeth (who was still talking about the museum and gave no indication that she knew a person had joined them at the bus stop).

Studying the man, Percy saw that he looked like a male model. He was tall and muscular. The dark, curly hair fell naturally around his face as if framing the perfect features of his face. The only thing that was unsettling were the man's eyes. His body and face said that the man was probably in his early twenties, but his nearly all black eyes made him look older than that.

Percy shuddered at the man's smile that did nothing to help him relax under the older man's gaze.

The man chuckled at Percy's badly hidden discomfort and turned to stare out at the street. After a few lingering moments, Percy followed suit.

Percy forced himself to relax. The man wasn't a monster (he had been chased by so many that he could at least tell when one was close), but something about him just didn't seem right.

In the last few years of his existence, Percy had noticed that he had become more and more paranoid. Being constantly attacked by monsters could do that to a demigod. Percy exhaled a long breath, trying to release all his tension, and went back to attempting to understand what his girlfriend was talking about.

Percy was suddenly shaken out of his own thoughts when Annabeth's ramblings were abruptly cut short by a sharp yelp and her hand was yanked out of his own.

All of his Greek battle training flared up at that sound and before anyone could blink, Riptide was out, flashing wickedly in the waning evening light. But before he could attempt anything, a second sound stopped him cold.

Click.

Percy's movements stopped, his sword half raised.

The silver outline of a gun was pressed against Annabeth's skull and his girlfriend's strugglings immediately stopped when the cold metal met her skin.

Taking another look the man, Percy had almost gasped out loud. The previously handsome features had morphed into a grotesque mask full of fur and fangs. If Percy had ever met a werewolf, he would say that that was what the man looked like. The only thing that remained the same were the dark eyes that now held a malicious gleam. One twisted looking arm curled around Annabeth's mouth, while the other held the gun to her head.

Percy glared at the second hand as if wishing to rip it to shreds. The hand, although still humanoid in shape, was now covered in thick fur and ended in wicked looking claws.

Annabeth's hands were free and fighting against the hand against her mouth, but the wolf-man seemed to be immune to the blows the demigod was giving him.

The wolf-man smiled, giving Percy a full view of all his pointed teeth.

"She's a pretty thing, ain't she?" the wolf-man finally spoke. His voice sounded like gravel scraping against the ground. "Shame if somethin' bad 'appened to her."

"Let. Her. Go." Percy bit off each word through clenched teeth and raised Riptide.

The wolf-man only smiled like this amused him. "Celestial bronze. That's what the Doc called it, ain't it?" he said to no one in particular. "Sorry, Bub. But that toy ain't going to work on me. I ain't no fairytale monster."

Unfortunately, Percy believed him. Despite his appearance, the man did not give off the same vibe as a monster. And if that was the case, Percy had nothing to threaten the creature with.

"What do you want?"

The wolf-man sneered. "Hey, kid. I like you. Cut straight to chase, you do. Not like some other peeps I work with. They just go on an' on an' on about crap no one else cares about."

"Shut up." Percy suddenly growled.

"If I do that, how will I answer your question?" the wolf-man chuckled.

Again the wolf-man smiled, seriously irritating Percy. He wanted nothing more than to cut that smile off the creature's face.

_Stupid. _Percy silently berated himself. _Stupid. If anything happens to Annabeth, I'll…_

"You."

The one word cut through his thoughts.

Percy blinked. "What?"

"You deaf? I said, 'You.'"

Annabeth had began struggling again, ignoring the tightening hold of the creature. Percy could hear muffled yells from her, but he wasn't really paying attention to them.

What he did notice were Annabeth's silver eyes. He was sure they reflected the same confusion and fear that his own held. And in that one glance, he made his decision.

"Okay," Percy said softly, lowering Riptide. At that one word, Percy heard Athena's words whisper back in his ears.

"_To save a friend, you would sacrifice the world." _(1)

Stupid fatal flaw.

"Okay," he repeated, staring the wolf-man in the eyes in an attempt to avoid Annabeth's pleading ones. "Let her go, and you have me."

"Too easy," the wolf-man scoffed. "I expected more of a fight from the Hero of Olympus. But, I'm not complainin'. Got to give credit to the Doc for knowin' your weakness, kid."

Before Percy could get another word out, the wolf-man hit the butt of his gun on Annabeth's head. Hard.

Percy gritted his teeth as Annabeth fell limply to the floor. Taking a step towards Annabeth, he saw his vision blaze red. But in the time it takes to blink, the wolf-man appeared before him, his clawed hand extended towards his throat.

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><p>(1) <em><strong>Titan's Curse <strong>_**by Rick Riordan**

**~Bluesky21543**


	2. Chapter 2: Worst Introductions

**_Italics_ – flashback or thoughts**

**Disclaimer: I do not only any of the books.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 - Worst Introductions<strong>

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><p>Percy groaned. The light was too bright, and he was in really did not do anything for his sore body.<p>

He tried to move to a more comfortable position only to give a small yelp of pain when he felt coarse ropes dig into his wrists.

His eyes flew open, and everything came back in a heartbeat.

The museum. Annabeth. Wolf-man. Claws.

The thought of Annabeth fueled the fire in his body and his struggles began anew despite his current uncompromising position in a chair with his hands tied behind him.

"I knew you would be perfect the first time I laid eyes on you," a voice chuckled from behind him.

Percy's movements immediately ceased at the sound of the voice.

_Come on, Seaweed Brain. _Percy could almost hear Annabeth urge him. _Think. I know you're smarter than that stupid look on your face lets on._

Percy took in his surroundings in one glance.

White. He was in a small white room. No furniture except for the chair he was sitting on. The door was right in front of him, but no handle. Great.

There was a panel next to the door with a bunch of flashing lights and buttons, but with Percy's track record with technological devices… he would have easier time trying to climb through the vents.

The voice Percy remembered. The voice had come from behind him, but Percy couldn't see the owner of that voice.

"Welcome, Perseus Jackson. Here you will be known as Subject D-5" the voice said, giving probably one of the worst welcomes in the history of welcoming.

Percy didn't like the man using his full name. And he definitely didn't like the whole "subject" thing.

Subjects D-5? What kind of messed up Frankenstein movie was he in?

"Who are you? What did you do with Annabeth?" Percy desperately tried to see the man talking to him. He was pretty sure it wasn't the wolf-man, but he was also pretty sure he wouldn't like him any better.

"The girl's fine. Safe and sound. Just as promised. I always keep my promises."

The man spoke in a funny way. His sentences were brief and to the point, but Percy didn't dwell on that for long when he heard footsteps coming to where he was currently held hostage.

The man finally came into Percy's line of sight.

He was dressed as you would expect any typical mad scientist. Brown shoes. Khaki pants. White lab coat.

The only thing that was off about him was that there wasn't a speck of dirt on the man or (to Percy's relief) blood. Everything about the man's outfit was perfectly in order.

Percy took one look at the man's face and bit back a gasp.

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><p><strong>6 years ago<strong>

_Percy sighed. He was tired of 4th grade. Heck, he was tired of school. He was never really good at any subject and he had just recently changed schools... again. He was only in the 4th grade and already three schools told him never to come back._

_Percy reached for the doorknob to enter his small apartment when—_

"_Get out!"_

_Percy's hand froze over the doorknob._

_That was his mom's voice, he was sure, but it didn't sound quite right._

_In the past, Sally Jackson had gotten mad at her son many times just like any mom would, but Percy had never heard this voice, even when she was arguing with Smelly Gabe._

"_Ma'am," a calm voice answered. "Think about this. You could have a bright future. He is only holding you back." The voice talked like it was trying to reason with a child._

"_GET OUT NOW!"_

"_Very well." The tone now sounded amused. "If you change your mind, you can call my number at—"_

"_If I ever see your face again, it'll be too soon."_

_Percy backed away from the door. Something was horribly wrong. He had never heard his mom raise her voice this high, never heard her speak like this._

_The door opened suddenly, and Percy jumped out of the way as a man walked out slowly as if he had all the time in the world._

_The man immediately caught sight of the somewhat petrified boy. He smiled, making Percy shiver slightly. The man's eyes seem to note the slight movement, and his smile widened._

_Percy felt like the man was looking at him through a microscope. He felt like he was currently a specimen of no significant value except in the name of science._

"_So this is Perseus," the man said nonchalantly, ignoring the yells of a furious woman behind him._

_Percy stared up at the man, still very confused about the whole situation. Did he know the man? No, Percy was quite sure he had never met him before. But the how did the man know him? Why was his mom so mad? What was the man doing here?_

"_Percy." The boy heard himself automatically correcting the older man._

_The adult nodded, never taking his eyes off the boy. "I believe we will be seeing each other again someday, Perseus."_

"_Get away from him!" Percy's mom appeared at the door; her face was red and she looked ready to murder the man in front of her._

_Percy didn't know if his mom was talking to him or the man, but he backed up immediately, scared of the expression on his mom's face and the ominous statement the man had said._

_The man smiled, completely unfazed by Mrs. Jackson's outraged cry._

_He nodded his head to Percy and then to Mrs. Jackson. "Good day, ma'am."_

_And with that, he disappeared down the hallway._

"_Percy."_

_The boy turned and saw something he had never even imagined._

_Mrs. Jackson's anger seemed to have dissipated and collapsed into an exhausted expression. Whatever the man had done to her had left her drained. The aftermath of the whole event left tears in his mom's eyes._

_Percy was confused and frightened. His mom was strong. She never cried, at least, not in front of him._

_Mrs. Jackson kneeled in front of her son, engulfing him in her arms._

"_I love you, Percy. You know I love you," she murmured in his ears._

_Percy was still bewildered by the whole situation, but he hugged her back and whispered, "Yeah, I know."_

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><p>"You," Percy finally managed. "You're the—"<p>

"—the man you met years ago," his abductor finished, smiling the same smile Percy remembered from that brief encounter. "I am honored that you still remember me."

Percy glared at the man, letting him know that the memories attached to him were not exactly pleasant ones.

"Ah," the man exclaimed as if he suddenly had a wonderful idea. "We were not properly introduced, were we? Well, Subject D-5, I am Dr. Stephen Matthews."

Percy remembered that the wolf-man had briefly mentioned a doctor that had given him information. But that didn't make sense. Not many mortals knew of the gods' existence, so…

"How—" Percy began.

"—did I know of the Greeks, the gods, and their children?" the man—Dr. Matthews—interrupted. "I have my sources."

"What—"

"—sources?" That whole reading his mind and finishing his sentence thing was starting to seriously annoy the already ticked off demigod.

Dr. Matthews chuckled. "That's for me to know, and you to probably never find out."

The door suddenly opened with an echoing swish, and three more people entered in.

The first was another man who looked like a scientist. Yep. Brown shoes. Khaki pants. White lab coat.

The other two looked like body builders.

Percy took a look at the body builder to the right and growled, recognizing the wolf-man from the night before. He involuntarily strained against his bonds at the memory of the gun pressed against Annabeth's head. When he moved, his neck unexpectedly started throbbing from where the wolf-man's claw had met his throat.

The wolf-man gave a short, barking laugh and whispered something to his companion who also started to chuckle oddly.

"Subject D-5." Dr. Matthews's voice momentarily distracted Percy from shooting mental daggers at the wolf-men. "We will now begin. I look forward to seeing your progress. We have prepared for this. I am sure that your testing will prove to be successful."

_Wait, what? _Percy opened his mouth to speak. Millions of questions were running through his ADHD mind. Everything the doctor had said thus far had only brought up more questions.

"Don't worry, Subject D-5," Dr. Matthews said, again interrupting anything Percy might have said. "I am sure you will find out who we are and what we do in due time."

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><p><strong>~Bluesky21543<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: You got a name?

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing, so yeah…**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 - You Got a Name?<strong>

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><p>"O-kay, Subject D-5. We are done for the day," the scientist said amiably as he undid the straps holding Percy to the table.<p>

Percy had only been in this place for a few days and he already hated it.

It really was not that hard. Between the horrible introductions, the tests, and the wolf-men and scientists, the place really did not make his first impressions all that favorable.

He hated the building. He hated the name they gave him (if you can call it that). He hated the scientists who talked like they were mentioning the weather while sending volts of electricity through his body. He hated the training with the robots and special simulations. And most of all he hated the tests.

The tests had ranged from taking blood samples to putting his body in stressful conditions to painful experiments that he would rather not talk about.

When they were done, they would march him to a cell and lock him away until the next day.

During those times, Percy could do nothing more than think. He had come no closer to figuring out who these people were, so instead he wondered about Annabeth and his mom, hoping they were both okay. He thought about camp and Chiron. He thought about ways to escape (all ideas had thus far been proven useless). He thought about—

"Up you go, Subject D-5," the scientist called all too cheerfully.

Percy stood up and was immediately flanked by two of the wolf-men (he had figured out earlier that they were called Erasers).

"Thanks for letting me test on you, Subject D-5," the really annoyingly happy scientist said.

"Like I had a choice," Percy muttered as the Erasers led him out of the testing room.

The small procession walked down the hall, their footfalls echoing off the bare white walls.

Percy was currently going through every plan of escape, but all of them ended with him getting his face smashed into a wall by an Eraser (he had already found out what that felt like).

He still had Riptide, but the celestial bronze was useless against the wolf-men or the scientists. At the moment, there was no question that Percy felt utterly helpless. He had felt that way when the gun was pointed at Annabeth, and he definitely didn't like it any better now.

Percy started to turn into the corridor that led to his cell, but the Eraser to his right stopped him.

"Not today, D-5." The Eraser knew the demigod hated that name. "You got a new room assignment and a new roommate." The two Erasers laughed as if this was a hilarious joke, playing with Percy's already frayed nerves.

_Great, _Percy thought sarcastically. _I get to meet another psycho._

The Erasers opened a door, and Percy stepped in only to blink in confusion.

The room looked like a storage room. Cages that looked like the doggy crates lined both walls.

Percy continued to look at the cages in bewilderment until one of the Erasers walked forward and opened the door to one of the cages.

Percy's eyes widened, and then narrowed as anger washed over him. "You have got to be kidding—"

"In," the Eraser holding the cage door barked. "We could help you in if necessary."

Percy inwardly winced at the implications of that statement.

A prod from the Eraser behind him got him to stumble towards the door. Percy glared at the Erasers before bending down and crawling into the crate.

_This is definitely not helping my ADHD,_Percy thought. As he observed the tiny space that prohibited him from doing no more than kneeling.

"Home, sweet home. Eh, Subject D-5?" the Eraser chuckled behind him. Percy heard the wolf-man lock the cage and follow his fellow freak out of the room.

Percy was left alone in silence. _Wait. Alone? The Erasers said I had a roommate._

There was definitely no one in the cage with him, so he turned around.

He was immediately greeted by a startling set of eyes.

The pair of eyes was located in a cage directly across from him, belonging to a crouched figure, half obscured by the gloom.

The gaze itself was nothing significant. In fact, it looked a little bleary like its owner had just woken up. What was really surprising was the color. They were a striking violet color. A color Percy had definitely never seen before, even on demigods or even gods for that matter.

Once he got over the initial shock of the strange colored eyes, Percy observed the rest of his new "roommate."

She was a girl. Probably the same age as him. From what he could tell, she had long straight black hair (or at least he thought it was black; the shadows from the cages made it hard to tell). She also looked pretty athletic, but again it was hard to tell. Another strange thing was that her arms were strapped together. She had on black gloves that reached past her elbows and what looked like rubber straps were pulled tight around them so that she couldn't separate her hands.

"You done staring, kid?"

Percy nearly jumped when she first spoke. And in response, Percy said something really smart like, "Uh, duh, huh?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Have you been here long, kid?"

Percy finally found his tongue again and responded, "Few days, I think."

The girl began scrutinizing Percy through mesh of the cage doors. "Doesn't look like have done any serious testing on you quite yet," she mused quietly.

"Serious testing? You don't call sending a couple volts of electricity through my body serious?" Percy practically shouted.

Vaguely, in the back of his mind, Percy knew that he wasn't one to normally snap out like that, but who could blame him? He had just been put through some pretty gruesome testing (against his will, of course), he was currently running on a few (bad) hours of sleep, and the stranger's unblinking stare was starting to get unnerving.

"Trust me, kid. That's not even the worst of it," the girl said ominously.

Her words were greeted by a heavy silence.

The girl sighed. "Sorry, kid. Didn't mean to sound so morbid. It's just…" She let the last part hang as her eyes began to glaze over.

"Quit calling me 'kid,'" Percy muttered irritably. This really wasn't a good day. "Besides you don't look like you're any older than me, so I don't think you should be one calling me kid."

"Then tell me your name, kid," the girl smirked.

Percy opened his mouth, and then stopped. He didn't know why but he didn't feel like telling the unknown person his name. Maybe it was because of all the horrible things the scientists have already done to him. Or maybe it was just that he didn't trust the girl yet.

The girl seemed to read the hesitation and sighed, "Don't want to tell me? Don't blame you. I wasn't really planning on telling you mine now that I think about it."

"Then why ask?" Percy wondered.

"Standard question. You know, how are you, what's your name… Even stuck in here for a while, some habits die hard."

"So I guess, your well-being and name are not top priority here," Percy said bitterly.

"Not really. No one cares how my days go, only if I can do the tests right, and no one here knows my name."

Percy scrunched his brow in confusion. A few of the scientists knew his name, although, they just called him by the pet name they gave him. "Not even the scientists? Why not?"

"Because no one cares," the girl snorted. "As far as I can tell, I was just randomly picked off the street when walking home."

Percy briefly wondered all their subjects off the streets, but then remembered that Dr. Matthews had known about him all the way back in 4th grade, maybe longer. But obviously, judging by the girl's case, not all of the subjects were stalked as children (gods that sounded so creeper). Percy felt pity for whatever kids were randomly ripped away from their normal lives by these crazy people here.

"And if they do know my name, they don't show it. It's always 'Subject A-22 that. Subject A-22 this.'" Angered laced the girl's words, and Percy could have sworn he saw her strange eyes glow slightly in the gloom. The girl sighed again and finished softly, "And it's not like I would tell anyone. It's all that I have left that's mine."

The sudden haunted look in her eyes made Percy shiver slightly. And he briefly wondered what had happened to her. Then, he quickly banished that thought. He did not want to know any more of what happened in this sick place.

"You can call me Raven."

Percy looked up, confused. Then he realized she was talking about her name. "Huh? Raven?"

He saw the darkness of the cage shift slightly as the girl shrugged. "It's what I am," she stated simply.

Before Percy could ask her what that meant, Raven spoke up again, "So what should I call you?"

Percy thought for a second. He didn't trust anybody else in this psychotic place to say his name. Dr. Matthews and some scientists already knew, and that was bad enough. For some reason, his name sounded foul when they said it. Maybe it reminded him of when monsters would come at him, claws raised, screaming his name in those shrill voices of theirs...

Percy shook his head. His ADHD was distracting him again. Name. What could he say? He definitely wasn't going to tell her about Annabeth's "Seaweed Brain" nickname. He thought for a few more seconds before saying, "Dunno. I'm not really creative, sorry."

"Fine," came the answer and he could see her flash a small smile. "I'll just keep calling you 'kid' until you think of a name."

Percy would have objected, but the tests had drained him, so he merely grunted.

His eyes felt heavy and he could feel every single place the scientists had poked, prodded, and tested. Gods he hated needles too.

Percy leaned back against the wall of the cage, tired of the world.

"Hey, kid."

Percy grumbled something unintelligible, barely awake now.

"You should get out if you think of a way."

_What do you think I'm trying to do? _Percy shot back mentally.

"Get out before they seriously mess you up."

_Mess me up?_If Percy had been fully awake that statement would have caused more questions and slight panic.

"This place is pretty horrible."

_No freakin' duh._ Percy thought before he drifted off to sleep.

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><p><strong>Note: This is not an OCxPercy. Nothing against people who write those kind of stories. It's just not my preference.<strong>

**Thanks**

**~Bluesky21543**


	4. Chapter 4: Dreams Suck

**Thank you to all who have commented, favorited, or followed this story.**

**Again this is NOT a PercyxOC.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Percy Jackson nor Maximum Ride.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 – When You're Stuck in a Cage, You Don't Have Much Else to Do than Think and Sleep<strong>

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><p>The boy was asleep. Raven could tell by the slow rise and fall of his chest.<p>

She studied him for a moment. He was pretty cute if you took away the multiple bruises that littered his body. Asleep, his face looked calm and peaceful. His body spoke of good training and rough workouts. The dark, wispy hair fell over his face, giving him a boyish look.

The features that intrigued Raven the most were his sea-green eyes. They were the first bit of color Raven had seen in a while. Stuck in this white world, one savored any bit of color wherever it came.

Raven was sure those eyes would be even more beautiful if the boy smiled... They reminded her of the many trips to the sea she had taken before she came here.

The sea. How long since she had seen the ocean? Or anything outside of this place for that matter?

That acted as a catalyst for the memories. Raven saw her family, friends, and familiar places that had been long forgotten. She could remember everything, and she held on to it as if her life depended on it. Maybe in a way it did. Those memories along with her name were all she had left. This place had taken everything else. She hadn't seen her family in years. Briefly, Raven wondered how old her little brother was and if her family thought about her as she did them. Her life had been stolen. She had just begun middle school before she was taken to this living nightmare. She had lived by the sea, and now she lived in a desert. No matter how painful they were, Raven clung to them because if she lost them, what hope would she have left?

Raven looked at the scratches on the back of the cage. She had scratched a mark for each day for three years until the scientists decided she was too dangerous and needed to be tied up before being stuffed back into her cage. Up to date, Raven no longer knew how long she had been in the School.

Raven sighed and sat up into a kneeling position so that her head just barely brushed the top of the cage.

Slowly, she allowed her muscles to relax, and consequently, those _things_ extended out behind her, lying limply like wet rags.

Turning her head, Raven could clearly see them, from where they reached up to her back to all the way down to the tips. Huge, black, and glossy.

Raven stared at them—the reason why she was in this place.

If they hadn't caused her so much pain, they might have been beautiful. If they didn't label her as a freak, she might have enjoyed showing them off. If the scientists didn't perform disgusting tests on them, she would have stretched them out more. If she were free, she would fly towards the sky that constantly taunted her from behind glass and bars.

Raven sighed for the umpteenth time that day… or was it night? ...she didn't know any more.

She dragged those _things_ up off the floor of the cage and brought around her body as if she was trying to use them to create a shield against the whole world.

Raven couldn't stop another sigh from escaping her lips.

What good were wings if you were trapped in a prison?

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><p>In case you didn't know, demigod dreams suck. There is no real sugarcoating that fact. They never let up. They seem to come at the worst possible times. And they are always, always nightmares.<p>

Tonight was no exception.

Images flashed before Percy. When he would eventually wake up, Percy would only remember half of them, and those alone were bad enough.

"Percy?"

Percy turned around to catch the sight of his girlfriend. She had a little blood staining her blonde hair from where the Eraser had hit her. She looked worried, but not about the wound on her head. She was staring straight at Percy, her eyes trying to warn him of some danger he could not yet see.

"Annabeth," Percy called out and started running towards her. "Are you okay?"

"You have to get out. Where are you? Let me help you." Annabeth's purple eyes pleaded with Percy. Wait. Purple?

Percy blinked as Annabeth's hair turned jet black and her face changed into the girl's in the cage next his. It was his mysterious "roommate"—Raven.

"Get out, kid. Before they do something horrible to you." Raven's eyes held the same desperate look, but along with that, her strange eyes told of deep sadness as if she had lost something and had no hope of ever regaining it.

The demigod tried to respond, but his body seemed to have been turned to stone. His eyes seemed to have taken in Raven's emotions and freeze his heart. Doubt. Desperation. Fear. Despair. All of them jumbled into one unbearable mass inside his head.

Percy suddenly found himself in surrounded by pure white feathers, but these were not the downy stuff that you would find on chicks. These feathers were viciously sharp like the ones of the Stymphalian birds and tore at Percy's exposed skin.

The storm of feathers whirled around Percy, slashing again and again, while the demigod tried desperately to ward off the assault to no avail.

When the feathers cleared, Percy found himself falling.

Percy had fallen before, but going a 100mph towards your death is something that's hard to get used to, so the demigod did the most natural thing. He screamed.

Even with his screams ringing in his ears, Percy heard a voice that he immediately recognized as the Almighty, God of the Heavens, Zeus.

"Perseus Jackson," the god bellowed. "You are not welcome in my domain." Lightning flashed to emphasize the furious god's point.

Mid-fall, Percy could do little to change his predicament, so he just continued screaming until—splash!

Hesitantly, Percy opened his eyes and found himself floating in the ocean.

To any normal human, this impact would have resulted in his immediate death, but being the son of the Sea God definitely had its perks from time to time.

His heart still beat wildly from the freefall, but at least he was out of Zeus's territory.

Then he noticed something was wrong. The ocean seemed oddly quiet. Since the water was his natural territory, he could usually pick up on the passing conversations from fish and other sea animals. The water usually responded instantly to his touch. But today, everything felt muted, distant, and unconnected.

"Father?" Percy called out.

Silence.

_Poseidon, please…_ Percy prayed silently.

"Perrrrrcy."

It wasn't his father's voice, but Percy was immediately comforted by it.

"Grover!" Percy called out, spinning in the water to catch a sight of his satyr friend. "Where are you?"

"The link." It took Percy a while to figure out that Grover was talking about the empathy link. He'd forgotten about that.

"Where are you, Percy?" The voice seemed to be getting clearer and stronger like someone was turning up the volume to the radio.

"I don't know, G-man," Percy replied, still trying to find the image of the half-goat boy.

Grover didn't answer right away. He could feel the connection getting stronger and Grover's presence seemed to be more prominent.

"Wherever you are Percy, there are a bunch of wild animals there."

The comment confused Percy. "What?"

"The animals—they're confused and hurt. The humans there are doing horrible things to them." Grover was starting to sound really panicky, scaring Percy. "You need to get out. Percy, where are you?"

"I don't know!" Percy shouted. A current picked up and seemed to toss Grover's presence away until it completely disappeared.

"No!" Percy woke up, and then cursed in ancient Greek when his head slammed against the top of the cage. He'd forgotten about that little detail.

Grumbling could be heard from the cage across from him, but Percy didn't really register the noise.

He already knew what he had to do. It was pretty obvious ever since he first opened his eyes in that white room and was reintroduced to Dr. Matthews. But his short conversation with Grover had scared him more than he cared to admit.

Percy glared at the wire door to his cage.

_Come on, Seaweed Brain. _Annabeth called out in an exasperated sigh. _For once in your life, think!_

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed it!<strong>

**~Bluesky21543**


	5. Chapter 5: Explanations

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Raven.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 - Explanations<strong>

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><p>Raven herself was an early riser, but this was just ridiculous.<p>

Raven had wanted to yell at her new roommate to shut the heck up as soon as the infernal noise had started, but as soon as she had caught sight of the object in the other teen's hand, all words had died in her throat as a thousand questions choked off her air supply in their collective attempt to all be spoken first.

What. The. Heck.

The girl whipped her head away from the sight and tried to blink the sleep sand out of her eyes, while simultaneously cursing her tied hands. With that task done, Raven turned back to the only other inhabitant in the room and stared.

There was no mistaking it. The deadly point. The razor edge. The hilt in the boy's hands.

Raven stared at it, transfixed. Where had the boy gotten the sword? How in the world did he get it passed the Whitecoats?

"Hey," Raven called out.

Clang!

"Hey," Raven tried again.

Clang!

"HEY!"

The clanging stopped and was replaced the by heavy breathing.

_Well, _Raven thought, _At least he's a fighter._

That comment wasn't really referring to the sword in his hand. Raven could tell that the boy had put everything he had behind those hits. His eyes also had a fire that Raven had not previously detected.

"That's not going to work," Raven huffed, still slightly miffed that her sleep had been rudely cut short. "These things are stronger than they look." She knocked on her cage for emphasis.

"I'm not staying here," came the curt reply.

Raven shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid you don't have much of a say in that matter."

The boy looked mad now. "I thought you were the one who told me to get out of here," he nearly shouted.

"Yeah," Raven shot back. "But I was hoping you be a little more smart about it, kid. Banging around like that is only going to make the Whitecoats nervous and the Erasers hungry for your blood. Anyways, where in the world did you get that freakin' sword?"

The teen looked a little taken aback by Raven's words, but confused when he heard the last part.

Raven didn't know what happened, but the sword seemed to shrink, then disappear in the boy's hands. She saw him pocket something, but couldn't tell with the gloom in the cages denying her a good view.

"You could see it?" the boy asked, genuinely surprised.

Raven frowned at that statement. "Of course! It's a huge freakin' sword. Kinda hard to miss."

The boy was silent for a moment before he spoke up. "So what do you suggest?"

Raven's frown deepened before she realized he was referring to his failed escape plan. She was still curious about the "magic" sword, but she guessed that explanation could wait until later.

"I don't know, kid," Raven murmured. "I've been here so long that I've run out of ideas. I was kind of hoping that you would have some new ones."

"Oh," the boy murmured softly. "How long have you been here?"

Raven felt pain flash through her body, and she felt weariness weigh down on her. She felt herself immediately clam up, but if she wanted the boy to trust her, she was going to have to start answering questions. And what did this hurt anyways? She was already in so much pain that it didn't matter.

"Four or five years."

Raven watched the emotions flicker across the boys face. Pity. Shock. Disbelief. Fear.

"What?" the boy barely got out.

"You heard me," Raven said dully.

Raven saw the fear flare up again the boy's eyes, threatening to extinguish the fire that she had seen a few minutes ago. Then the boy set his jaw.

"Then you can explain to me everything to me about this place."

Raven had to smile at that. So the boy did have a brain after all. The kid was going to have to know everything about his enemies before he made his move.

Raven shifted around so that she could look straight into his green eyes.

"I assume no one has explained anything to you," Raven asked.

"No."

Raven nodded, not surprised. When she had first came here, no one cared to explain anything to her. All her information came from her own observations and bits of conversations that she was or was not a part of.

"What do you want to know first, kid?" Raven asked.

The boy had his answer ready. "This place. What is it? Where is it? And why do they want me?"

Well, he certainly got straight to the point.

"I'm not sure exactly what this place is called, but I and all the other experiments refer to it as 'the School,'" Raven began. "As for where it is, I believe it's in Death Valley, California, if I've heard correctly."

"California?" The boy looked panicked. "That's so far from—"

Raven swept on as if he hadn't spoken. "I don't know why they want you specifically. But I do know that this place is for human experimentation. Illegal, of course, but what the government doesn't know what kill them, right?" Raven said sarcastically.

The boy looked at her darkly. "Oh, yeah. It'll just kill us."

Raven chuckled without any humor, and then became completely serious again. "I also know that the Whitecoats—the scientist—are starting a new project. It has something to do with what they call 'special humans.' I suppose you don't know what they mean by 'special,' do you?"

The boy looked away. "No," he mumbled.

"You're a horrible liar." The boy opened his mouth to say something, but Raven ignored it and continued. "Anyways, there have been four 'special humans' before you, hence your name 'Subject D-5'"

"Do you know what happened to them?"

Raven shook her head. "They were here one day, gone the next. They could be somewhere else in this building, testing, being experimented on. But most likely they're—"

Raven stopped, not wanted to voice her thoughts. The teen across from her paled so that his face stood out from the gloom surrounding him.

"You said they called you 'Subject A-22.' Does that mean…" the boy trailed off, also unwilling to finish his sentence.

"I don't know," Raven sighed. "I have never met any of the other subjects with 'A' in their name, and the Whitecoats called me their first success, so I guess that means the others are no longer here."

They unnamed teen looked grim, but the fire in those eyes seemed to only shine even brighter.

"What do mean when you say you were their first success? What kind of experimentation goes on around here besides what I've already seen?" The boy's bleak demeanor told Raven to not leave out any details. He needed the whole truth if he was going to survive.

Raven stiffened, and those _things_ on her back involuntarily throbbed. Old scars made themselves known again. She could feel her energy rise as adrenaline told her to fight even if there was no one but the boy in front of her right now.

She was going to have to tell him. Prepare him for the worse. So far, she had kept _them_ hidden. The dark blended them into the background, and they folded pretty tight against her back anyways.

"They want to make a kind of superhuman race. You already saw the Erasers. They're killing machines. Enhanced senses, strength, and speed. But not all of them are really bright and they only have a short lifespan of four years… if they're lucky. They're nothing more than the School's pawns with a thirst for blood."

The boy waited. That wasn't the worst of yet.

The teenage girl tensed. She wasn't going to tell him about the other experiments. Those were failures and weak. Not important and only brought out unwanted feelings. That left herself.

"Then there's me," Raven finally said, feeling vulnerable, but he had to know the extent of the School's madness.

"You?" the boy asked. "What did they do to you?"

Raven only hesitated a moment longer, before she let _them_ extend filling up the rest of the small space so that the boy across from her could clearly see what they were. For the first time during their conversation, Raven looked away.

There was a shocked silence.

"Those are," the boy gaped. "Those are—are—"

"Wings," Raven confirmed, lowering them, but not completely hiding them. "After a few days of testing, they took me away for the operation. I was knocked out, and when I woke up these were grafted onto my back, and I was informed part of DNA had been spliced and replaced with bird DNA… I didn't ask many questions… I didn't want to know the details."

The boy was silent. Raven expected this. It was all a lot to take in, but eventually the desire to know would again break the silence between them.

"Is there any reason why they tie up your hands like that?" the boy's voice was soft and unsure.

She took a moment to prepare her answer. "I may have bird DNA, but it was spliced in when most of my body was already developed. I met some other experiments briefly. They had been born with their wings so they didn't have any problems with theirs, but mine were too heavy, and my bone mass may have lowered, but it was not enough to get myself into the air. Also, having extra appendages wore me out. I lost energy too quickly."

"Wait I thought you said you were their first success? What about the other kids with wings?" the boy inquired.

"When I said 'first success,' I meant that I was the first experiment to live through a specific kind of testing. My experiment was to see if they could graft wings into a human after they have lived several years already. As for the other bird-kids, I only met them for a short time. After that, I don't know what happened to them."

"And so what about the problem about you not being able to move your wings?" he interrupted again.

"The doctors came up with a solution. They took me in for another operation and spliced a second bit of genes into my DNA. They, um, gave me eel DNA."

The boy looked at her incredulously. "Eel? As in the sea creature?"

Raven was glad the gloom of the cage hid her sudden blush (or at least she hoped it did). If she wasn't a freak with them, Raven would have admitted the wings were pretty cool, but confessing that she was part fish or whatever an eel was, was kind of embarrassing.

"Yes, the sea creature," she snapped, making sure the boy clearly heard the biting edge in her voice. "You got a problem with that?"

The boy immediately backed off. "Hey, sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Plus, I like sea animals. I get along with most of them."

Raven relaxed at the boy's retreat, and continued before he got any wrong ideas and started looking at her like he expected her to grow gills or something ridiculous like that.

"The scientists were very careful about what part of DNA they spliced into me. The DNA I received came from electric eel. It gave me the power to imitate the eel's ability to generate electric fields. I can give a nasty shock or can detect things by sensing other electric fields, but most importantly, it gives me the energy I need to power my wings. Electric powers. Hence the rubber handcuffs."

The other teenager now looked slightly impressed and the only thing he could think to say was, "A nasty shock, huh."

"Yeah, found that out after a few days of training. Unfortunately, a few scientists were in the training area with me. They wanted an up-close view of what I could do." Raven smiled at that memory.

The boy actually laughed at that. "I assume they got what they wanted?"

Raven couldn't help but join in with a few of her own snickers. "Yep!" she said cheerfully.

"Good."

They sat like that for a few moments. For the first time, they felt somewhat comfortable in each other's presence.

"So…" the boy started, a little unwilling to go back to the serious mood again. "What can you tell me about this building? Any weak points?"

Raven thought for a moment. "I'm not really sure. I may have been here for a while, but I would say I've only seen about half of the whole building. I know there's a barbed wire fence around the perimeter, but if I can get out, I could easily fly over the thing. The main problems are the doors and the Erasers. The Whitecoats are a bunch of softies except for Matthews, so no problem there. Erasers, on the other hand, are brutal and barely controllable, and the moment you try to escape, they won't hesitate to tear you apart. Only a few actually follow orders; some kind of bend their given instructions into what they want to hear. The doors are another problem. They have no handles and are accessed by punching in a code. Unless you're a good hacker, you would have to find or make your own door."

The boy looked thoughtful. "The doors… are they operated by hydraulic systems?" he inquired softly.

"Hydraulic systems?" Raven repeated, confused. That seemed a little random, but Raven could almost see the wheels turning in the boy's head. "I—I think so. Why? Got a plan, Newbie?"

"It may be nothing, but…" The boy looked at the door. "Well, first we have to get out of these cages…"

"We?" Raven tried to make her voice level. She didn't want to delude herself, but she couldn't deny the small spark of hope starting in her chest. This kid was different. He seemed pretty smart despite his earlier attack on the cage walls. And during their conversation, never once did that fire in those sea-green eyes falter.

"You don't think I'd actually leave you alone in here, did you?" the boy said.

Raven smiled. "Kid, if you can get both of us out of here, you'll be my new best friend."

* * *

><p><strong>If you are interested, all of the facts about the electric eel are true. I actually looked up the electric eel in order to create Raven's powers, so here they are…<strong>

**Electrogenic: The ability to generate electric fields. Electric eels are able to generate up to 600 volts of electricity. Raven, being much bigger, can generate a LOT more, although the exact number has not been explored since the scientists are afraid of her.**

**Electroreceptive: The ability to sense and detect other electric fields. This can be used to locate things around the animal (or person in this case) since all living things give off bioelectric fields (albeit most of them are probably weak). Raven will later finds out that this electrolocation is much stronger in water since water conducts electricity better than air.**

**This is all true. If you don't believe me, check out Wikipedia and type in 'electric fish.'**

**~Bluesky21543**


	6. Chapter 6: Messed Up

**Disclaimer: Percy Jackson does not belong to me and neither does Maximum Ride.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 – Messed Up<strong>

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><p>The next day started off uneventful. No one came to fetch either one of them, which Percy was just fine with, but Raven on the other hand could not stop fidgeting. Her eyes darted around as if she kept expecting something to jump out at her.<p>

"Hey, Raven," Percy called out. The bird-kid jumped at the sound of his voice, and her head whipped around to so that he was staring straight into her unblinking eyes. Percy winced; the look in her eyes reminded the demigod of a cornered animal, ready to lash out at the first thing that moved.

This seemed strange compared to her rather cool demeanor she had shown during their conversation yesterday.

"Hey relax," Percy said. "What's you got you on edge all of a sudden."

Raven stared at him for a couple seconds before answering, "They haven't come to get us yet."

Percy blinked, confused. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"No!" the bird-girl snarled, making Percy flinch as if she had struck out at him. "They always come to get me. For testing, training, anything. Day in and day out. The fact that they haven't come to get me yet means that they're planning something big. I don't like it."

Raven's words sent a shiver up Percy's spine, and suddenly, the peaceful day (well, as peaceful it could get in this crazy School) didn't seem so inviting any more.

Percy decided not to speak again, and went back to trying to find a way out, but this turned out to be impossible with the echoes of Raven's words sounding in his ears. _They're planning something big…_

The sudden _whoosh_of the opening door made both captives jump in their cages.

Percy could hear Raven growl as the people made their way into the room.

"Good mornin', _Subjects,_" a familiar voice greeted.

Percy's vision went hazy with a red tint. It was the same wolf-man that hurt Annabeth.

"Malone," Raven said in a stiff voice, but then changed to a scornful tone. "So what are the School's pets here to do today? Have they come to fetch the Whitecoats' favorite?"

From where Percy was sitting, he could see the Eraser stiffen at the word "pets."

"Favorite?" he scoffed. "You're hardly their favorite, A-22. Not with all the trouble you give 'em. Besides, if you were their favorite, you'd be on this side of that cage door."

"So are you suggesting that you're the favorite, Malone?" Raven returned.

"Yeah," the Eraser said, smiling. "I guess I am."

"Congratulations. You must be so proud, _Pet_," Raven said in a mockingly sweet voice.

"I would not be callin' the School's Super Human Weapon a _pet,_" the Eraser spat down at the bird-kid.

Raven snorted. "Yeah, the Super Human Weapon with the lifespan of a hamster."

Malone let out a roar as his last nerve snapped. He lunged at Raven's cage and kicked it so hard that the metal prison actually went rolling into a wall. Percy could hear Raven yelp, and he pressed himself against the wire door to try to see his fellow prisoner, but the second Eraser blocked any sight of the girl.

Malone was about to make a second charge when the Eraser #2 intercepted him.

"Malone, we didn't come here to argue with that worthless piece of crap," his companion said in a warning growl.

The wolf-man grunted, and they both turned to Percy.

Percy could hear Raven spitting out insults like something about a collar and a leash, but he couldn't really make them out since he was too busy being petrified by the unexpected attention of the two Erasers.

Malone's companion opened the door, while the other Eraser stooped down to glare at Percy.

"Out."

Percy didn't have much time to register the command and didn't have much of a choice about obeying it or not since Malone's huge hand lashed out and grabbed the front of his shirt.

The demigod began to struggle, bringing up his hands to try to pry himself of the vice grip near his throat. Immediately, he felt a stinging blow on the back of his head. Unable to see straight with the black dots suddenly clouding his vision, Percy went slack and found himself being unceremoniously dragged towards the door.

Before they left, Percy caught one last look of Raven's frantic face, her mouth finally shut when she figured out whom the Erasers had come for.

_They're planning something big… _her voice whispered one last time before procession began to march him down the hallway.

* * *

><p>Percy and the Erasers made their way slowly down the hallway. Head down, Percy simply shuffled in the direction the Erasers herded him towards. His head still hurt from the blow the Eraser had previously given him and he could feel something wet and sticky trickle lethargically down his neck.<p>

All his senses seemed to be on hyper alert like they always did before a battle, except right now, he had no usable weapon, he was completely surrounded by enemies (besides Raven), and had no hope for escape at the moment.

He could hear the breath of the Erasers beside him, keeping time with the tempo of their steps. The smell of a hospital always filled the halls of the School, and it made Percy sick. His eyes scanned listlessly over the myriad of doors that lined the corridor.

The Eraser named Malone shoved him roughly to his right, and Percy jerked his head up, realizing he was now in a part of the School that he did not recognize.

The smell of the hospital was stronger here, and it put every one of his nerves on edge.

His ADHD battle instincts were kicking into overdrive, but with two Erasers guarding him, he could do nothing.

The unknown Eraser punched a button on the panel next to the door, and spoke briefly into the intercom.

Percy didn't have to wait for long before the door opened with a foreboding _whoosh._

The room was completely white like most of the rooms in the school. The florescent lights above casted down a harsh glare that easily bounced off those bleached walls.

Percy could see other furniture and equipment, but at the moment his mind was focused on the man towering above him.

"Welcome, Subject D-5," Dr. Matthews greeted as if they were old friends. "Are you ready?"

Percy glared at the man openly, letting every piece of anger gather in that one look. "Ready for what?" he asked cautiously.

Being a demigod, Percy had seen many battles, probably more battles then some normal human generals out there. Because of that, Percy had developed the ability to determine what situations he should stay and fight in or retreat and plan out for another day.

Staring up at the doctor, Percy decided he would rather be running right now, but the two Erasers still stood behind him, effectively blocking any escape attempts.

"Your operation, of course," Dr. Matthews announced like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Before Percy had time to react, he felt a slight prick in his arm. He blinked at the needle that was injecting some fluid into his body. He stared again at the now uncomfortably close doctor, wondering when he had moved and how the doctor could be so fast.

"What—" Percy stumbled back slightly, feeling himself beginning into slide into an overwhelming heaviness.

"Don't worry, D-5," Doctor Matthews soothed, reaching out to steady the drugged demigod.

The demigod had heard the doctor speak, but right now his ears did not seem to working correctly. Anything else the man might have said was overcome by the roar in Percy's ears.

Percy had never been more afraid in his life. Sure, he had been in more battles than he could count, but those had been different. During those, he had Riptide in his hand, friends at his back, and a reason to fight.

Here he was utterly alone.

Percy caught one last look of Dr. Matthews's white smile, and he turned away from it only to see the pasty walls closing in around him and engulfing his consciousness. Before he completely slipped away, Percy thought that if he were going to die, he would have preferred Zeus's wrath to this white prison any day…

* * *

><p>The boy opened his eyes. He hissed in discomfort when bright lights bombarded his vision. He scooted away from the unnaturally intense lights, but then stopped when pain racked his body.<p>

The boy sat there panting and wondering why the simple task of moving a few inches tired him out already.

Something was wrong.

His body hurt like crazy, but that wasn't it. Something else was wrong.

Looking around him, the boy realized he was in a… cage? Oh, yeah. Those men had shoved him into one of the many cages in this room before he had passed out in pain.

He sat up groaning. His body really hurt, but…

The boy's eyes suddenly widened, suddenly realizing what was wrong.

He searched his memory to find it blank, trying desperately to find the answer, but nothing… He could not remember his own name.

The boy's breath hitched in his throat as he tried to pry any information out of his brain. His age, home, friends, anything!

"No, no, no," he muttered frantically as he pulled wretchedly at his own hair. Nothing. Why was everything about a huge blank in the void of his mind? This wasn't right. There was something important or was it someone?

The boy was on the verge of panicking when—

"Hey."

Glancing around, the boy didn't see anyone in the cage with him.

"Hey, kid."

Hesitantly, the boy crawled towards the wire door, ignoring the pain the movement caused, and saw a girl in another cage looking back at him.

The girl relaxed when she saw him. "You okay, kid?" the girl asked, concern lighting her eyes.

Did he know her? She seemed to know him.

"I—I don't know," the boy responded shakily, his voice scratchy like he hadn't used it in days.

"What in the world is that suppose to mean? How do you not know how—"

"Who are you?" the boy interrupted, panic rising in his voice. Why couldn't he remember?

The girl's violet eyes narrowed. "Excuse me," she inquired.

"Who are you?" he repeated. And as if that question was an opening floodgate, more questions tumbled out of his mouth. "Where am I? _Who_am I? What happened to me? What—"

He stopped the string of questions abruptly. He felt wrong. More specifically his back felt wrong. He turned his head to examine what was throwing him off.

His eyes widened even further, and for a moment, he forgot how to breathe.

"What are _these_?" he yelled as he extended two dark gray wings from his back.

Raven stared at those wings in dismay. The boy that she didn't even know the name of was now falling towards complete hysteria and was completely justified in doing so.

Lost memories and wings. A perfect reason to panic.

Raven silently cursed the Whitecoats, their experiments, and this blasted School.

The boy was currently hyperventilating, and Raven could do nothing to help him.

"They messed you up good, didn't they kid," the black-winged girl murmured sadly to no one in particular.

She had only known the boy for one, maybe two days, but she already felt like she had lost an ally (perhaps a possible friend) as she stared into those green eyes that had lost their fire.

* * *

><p><strong>Adios<strong>

**~Bluesky21543**


	7. Chapter 7: Promises

**A/N: Percy will seem somewhat OC for a while, but that is because of his memory wipe. Don't worry. The Percy we all know and love will come back… hopefully…**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing except Raven**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7 - Promises<strong>

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><p>It had been another long night.<p>

Raven mentally threw every bad name she had ever learned in her short life (and sadly, she new quite a few since the Erasers were concerned for just about anything but gentlemanly mannerisms) at the Whitecoats and their School.

The kid was frantic, understandably. He didn't know where he was or _who_he was.

Raven had spent the entire night re-explaining all the details from the night before, plus extra things like about his new wings.

They were obviously bothering the boy. Waking up with wings is hard to get used to, and Raven could tell that the operation to graft the wings on him had left the poor kid in a lot of pain.

Right now, Raven was pissed… to put it lightly.

Raven sighed, really feeling like punching something at the moment, but with her hands in a bind (literally) punching something would have to wait for later. Hopefully, 'later' entailed free hands and an Eraser's face…

Again Raven sighed. This place was making her seriously violent.

The operation had destroyed the kid, not physically (the pain would eventually go away), but mentally. Raven had only known the kid for a couple days, but she could see a dramatic shift in his character.

His beautiful green eyes were dulled. He hadn't looked straight at Raven since he had first woken up. His shoulders were slumped. And every now and then, he would let a groan escape his lips.

Raven growled. She had seen countless kids come and go. None had ever come back, and no matter what Raven said to herself, she knew that those kids had not survived the operation. In some ways, this kid didn't survive either even though he was sitting right in front of her still breathing.

The kid in front of her might as well be dead. Raven hated the School for doing this, for killing the boy with the fire in his eyes. And she hated herself, for the uselessness she felt, for the inability to do anything for the broken kid who laid in the cage opposite for hers.

_Maybe, it would have been better if the kid hadn't survived. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't…_Raven's head jerked upwards when she realized what she was thinking. Growling at herself, Raven reprimanded her thoughts, telling herself depressing things like those were going to get her no where… and possibly killed.

Suicide was not a foreign subject to Raven. She thought about it a lot over the past couple years. Anyone would in this crazy place. Really all she had to do was give up her will to live and the intense trainings would eventually catch up to her and kill her. But she was stubborn, and now, she had another life to live for.

She remembered the promise that the boy had made to her before the operation.

Well, it wasn't really a promise, but the way he had said those words had sounded like a promise that had given Raven hope.

She never got to thank him for that, for giving her the first bit of hope in years.

Raven wasn't one to leave debts. And that bit of hope had more of an affect on her than the boy will ever know, so she made a promise of her own.

"Hey, kid," Raven whispered to the sleeping boy who had passed out from pain, exhaustion, and stress. "We're getting out of here. We're going to fly out of here and never look back. You got that?"

Naturally, the boy didn't respond, but simply groaned as he shifted slightly in his sleep.

Raven's eyes burned with the fire the green-eyed teenager had given her. "I promise."

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><p>The boy moaned. He was awake. He was now in the world of the living. And he really didn't want to be there. Everything hurt in this world. Inside and outside. Nothing made sense even though the girl—Raven—had explained most everything to him. Again. At least, "again" according to her. But of course the boy didn't remember. He didn't remember anything.<p>

Opening his eyes, the newly made bird-kid hissed in pain. Not from the sudden brightness (although he did turn towards the gloomy inside of the cage). Nor from the soreness of his body.

It was still there. That hole. That emptiness. Inside him. He couldn't remember. And it hurt.

He tried to push past the barrier that seemed to be solidly placed in the recesses of his memories. He mentally gave the wall that seemed to be standing in his way a little shove.

Pain exploded behind his vision. And he curled up trying to push the pain away. He snatched his mental hand away from the wall, and slowly the pain ebbed away, leaving the teenager sweating and aching with new wounds, physically (he had accidentally drawn his own blood when he had clenched his fists) and psychologically.

Reluctantly, the boy forced himself to sit up. He winced. The wings dragged behind him. He still couldn't get used to them. No human should be forced to get used to wings. It was unnatural.

He thought about a story. He couldn't remember where he had heard it, but the thought of humans and wings brought it up.

The boy of the story had wings. Strange wings attached to his arms. He had soared through the skies as if he had owned them. At least, he soared until he fell. The boy had gotten too close to the sun. Feathers had ripped themselves out of his wings. He fell. The waves beneath him had engulfed him.

The trapped teenager frowned at the ending of the story. This was proof enough that wings and humans didn't mix.

He turned his head and glared at those wings. They were going to be the death of him. He was sure of it.

He tried moving them, and they responded like any other appendage of his body. They shot small pains through his nervous system, but they still moved smoothly like they were unaware how wrong their presence was.

They boy scowled at them, but he couldn't really be mad at them. They were quite beautiful, full of varying colors of black and gray with a gleam of blue that flashed whenever the light touched them. No he definitely couldn't be mad at them, considering they were just as innocent as he in this situation. It was _their_fault, those men and women in those ghastly white coats.

Angered burned in the boy's mind.

_We need to escape._ The boy wasn't sure where the thought had come from, but he felt a familiar tug at those words.

"We will escape," he whispered to the darkness of his cage. It was a promise.

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><p><strong>The story Percy is thinking about is the Greek myth about Icarus. His father, Daedalus, and he were trapped on Crete by King Minos, and in order to escape, Daedalus made wings out of feathers and wax. Long story short, Icarus got to close to sun, sun melted wax, wings fell apart, the sea was below him, and you can probably guess the rest (If you can't, read a book or go on Wikipedia). If you remember, this story was mentioned in Rick Riordan's book,<em>The Battle of the Labyrinth.<em>**

**~Bluesky21543**


	8. Chapter 8: Training Day

**Disclaimer: I do not own either of the books**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8 – Training Day<strong>

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><p>Raven jerked awake, the horrors of the nightmare still fresh in her mind.<p>

"Shut up," Raven growled at the haunting voices.

She had been having the same nightmare for days now—ever since the kid had come back from his operation. Raven took one look of those dark, _wrong_ wings and it was all she could do to not break down right then and there as those horrible visions of scalpels, drugs, pain, and _white_ plagued her vision.

The girl could hold them off well enough during the day, but at night, her defenses weakened and all she saw was those horrors.

Finally calming herself down, Raven once again suppressed the memories that would surely only resurface the moment she closed her eyes, but that was an issue to worry about when it came.

Looking over at the other cage, Raven saw that the boy was already awake with his back towards her, giving her a full view of his new, dark wings.

Raven sighed. The wings were yet another symbol of the School's horrible experimentation and their trapped predicament. Irony sucked sometimes.

"Good morning, kid," she greeted.

The boy turned slowly around, still getting used to the unfamiliar weight on his back.

"Good morning," he returned quietly. He then frowned, and Raven saw a small spark in those green eyes that she hadn't seen when he had fallen asleep the night before. "Don't call me 'kid,'" he said with a tiny bite to his words.

Raven had to smile at that. Maybe the kid wasn't that far gone.

"Sorry, kid. I don't know your name," she smirked when he scowled at her use of the word "kid" again.

"I didn't tell you?" he asked.

"Nope," she answered. "You didn't trust me. I didn't push you to tell. I didn't even tell you my real name."

"Wait, Raven isn't your real name?" he wondered.

"Nope. Years in this place doesn't exactly make you the most trusting person in the world," she said sourly.

The boy was silent for a moment before finally saying something in a whisper so soft that Raven almost didn't catch it.

"So I'm just a nameless freak with wings."

Immediately, Raven felt guilty. This kid was _not _going to become as depressed as she was if she could help it.

"Hey!" Raven yelled so that the boy gave a little jump of surprise. "I'm the only one allowed to have depressing thoughts around here!"

That had effectively shut the boy up for a moment.

Raven continued, "If you want a name, I'll give you one."

The boy looked at her skeptically. "And if I don't like it?"

Raven shrugged. "You don't like it, I'll give you a new one. We'll keep giving you new names until we find one we like. 'Kay?"

The boy still looked doubtful, but mirrored her shrug. He didn't have any better ideas. "Okay. So… what are you going to call me?" He stopped as if the idea of 'giving' him a name sounded a little weird.

The bird-girl looked thoughtful for a moment. "How about… Daniel?"

The boy blinked. It sounded good to him. "Okay."

"Okay, Daniel," she echoed him. "Just tell me when you don't like that name, and I'll give you a new one."

The newly declared 'Daniel' nodded and barely got out an "okay" before the door suddenly opened.

Both bird-kids flinched away, but Raven recovered quickly and set a scowl on her face as a small team of five Erasers stalked into the room.

"Good mornin' _freaks_," the Eraser known as Malone hollered, a wild grin plastered on his face, which set every nerve in Raven's body on high alert.

"Like you're one to talked," Raven muttered.

Responding to Raven's sudden nervousness, the electricity her body generated crackled to life, but it was effectively kept contained by the rubber restraints. Too bad, Raven really felt like frying a few Erasers today.

The Erasers probably caught Raven's comment with their sharp ears, but at the moment they were too preoccupied with grinning madly or glaring at the two bird-kids.

Raven definitely did not like those grins.

"Today's trainin' day," the Eraser declared almost joyfully.

Raven's scowl deepened. She should have known. The Erasers loved to torture her on training day just because they knew she disliked it so much. Scratch that. Dislike was not a strong enough word. Hated. Loathed. Abhorred. You get the idea.

Training day wasn't really the typical kind of training where you worked out in a gym and got stronger. It was more of a "survive unless you want an Eraser to rip off your head" kind of thing, but maybe the Whitecoats classified them as the same thing.

Raven was just about to give an angry retort when Malone's next words cut her off.

"For the both of ya," Malone finished, turning his gaze from Raven to Daniel.

"Wait, both of us?" the perplexed bird-kid asked. She had never trained with someone else before. She didn't like this. She already had a hard enough time keeping herself alive, but with Daniel still in the recovering state, she didn't know how she was going to defend them both.

"Why ya askin' such dumb questions?" Malone snarled.

Raven was just about to point out that he had answered her "dumb" question with another "dumb" question, but thought it was probably better to keep her mouth shut. She didn't want to cause herself or Daniel any more trouble by pissing off a couple Erasers before they even reached the training area.

"Alban, Geo," Malone barked. "Get the boy out of his cage. Vern, Claw, get Freak #1."

Raven swore that Erasers had the strangest names, but she didn't have much time to dwell on that thought as the wire door opened.

Growling, Raven resisted the urge to back into the cage in order to escape the advancing Eraser. It was no use trying something like that. She could resist and that might result in landing a few good kicks on the Eraser, but ultimately, the Eraser would overpower her since her hands were tied, and when he did get her, she would pay dearly for any bruises she might have caused him.

"Hey, Birdie," the Eraser named Claw cooed in a sickly sweet voice that sounded really strange in his doggy-growl. "Give me you hands like a good little bird-freak."

"Come and get them yourself," Raven snapped, instantly regretting her words as soon as they were out, but she didn't back down and just glared at the Eraser, making sure the bite in her voice carried through.

The Eraser grinned wickedly at the invitation, but a voice outside stopped him before he could try anything. "Don't play around, idiot. The doctor wants them now, so don't drag things out any longer than they have to be."

Looking disappointed at a missed opportunity to draw a little bird-kid blood, Claw growled, "Better thank whatever lucky stars that are looking out for you today. Because with that attitude, I would have kicked your—"

"Claw!" the impatient voice came again.

Claw growled and continued towards the glaring girl. He roughly took her bound hands. Attached to the rubber straps was a single, metal ring, which the Eraser attached to leather leashes to.

Without any warning, the Eraser jerked the leashes so that Raven felt herself being pulled towards the front of the cage.

"Whoa there, Fido," Raven quipped. "Let me stand and then you can drag me where ever you want."

The "Fido" comment only earned her another sharp tug that successful pulled her completely out of the cage and painfully onto her side.

From her view on the ground, Raven could see that Daniel was already out and flanked by two Erasers, Malone was obviously enjoying Raven's sprawled, helpless position, and "Fido" was handing the second leash to Vern.

Raven got to her feet and immediately the two Erasers holding the leashes positioned themselves on either side of the bird-kid. This formation was because if Raven lunged at one Eraser, all the other one had to do was pull his leash so that Raven would be jerked back (in a rather painful manner).

"Come on," Malone grunted.

The small procession grimly made their way out of the room and down several hallways. They eventually reached a room that Raven knew as the waiting room. It was nothing special. It was empty and white like most of the rooms in this building. It had a door opposite to the one they had just entered, which would soon open to lead them to the training area.

Despite the room being virtually devoid of any furniture or design, Raven already hated it because in front of them, obviously waiting to greet the two bird-kids, was the devil himself—Dr. Stephen Matthews.

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><p><strong>AN: From now on, whenever I am referring to Percy, I will be calling him by the name Raven has given him for that time being.**

**Until next time.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	9. Chapter 9: Do or Die

**A/N: Just in case you forgot, I will be referring to Percy by whatever name Raven has given him. As of last chapter Percy is known as Daniel. I hope that's not too confusing. Oh, and also remember that Percy will be acting a little OC because of his memory loss.**

**Disclaimer: Last time I checked neither of these books belonged to me and I don't think that has changed in the last day or so.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9 – Do or Die<strong>

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><p>Daniel did not remember the man in front of him (not really a big surprise), but he was definitely uneasy around him. The man had done something to him. Maybe he was the one who had headed the operation that had resulted in his wings. Daniel wasn't really sure, but his wings did seem to ache just a little bit more at the sight of him.<p>

Daniel noticed that the Erasers had backed up so that Raven and he faced the man alone. This scared the new bird-kid; if the Erasers were nervous, this should definitely sound some warning bells in his head.

"Subject D-5, Subject A-22, I am so glad that you were able to join us," the man said in a silky voice.

"As if we had a choice," he heard Raven mutter next to him. Daniel couldn't help agreeing with her sardonic attitude.

"What was that, dear?" the man asked good-naturedly.

"Nothing," Raven said, flashing a surprisingly brilliant smile that did not reach her cold eyes. "I was just surprised that the king of this crazy, whacked-out place would be ever so kind to grace us with his presence. We are surely honored, Dr. Stephen Matthews."

The sarcasm was practically dripping off her words, and Daniel had to stifle a sudden urge to snicker when he saw the man's left eye twitch ever so slightly.

But the devil recovered quickly from Raven's obvious mockery. "Ahh, Subject A-22, you are as spirited as ever," he drawled without a hint of annoyance. If Daniel didn't know any better, he would have thought that Dr. Matthews had given a sincere compliment.

"Really, Matthews, why are you here?" Raven said, all playfulness gone.

"Doctor," the man corrected as if talking to a child. "Doctor Matthews."

"Whatever," she muttered.

"Well," Dr. Matthews began, sounding happy. "I thought it would be appropriate for me to explain what you are doing today. You are probably wondering why both of you are here. Are you not, Subject A-22?"

"Crossed my mind," the bird-girl grunted conversationally.

"I am sure you have noticed D-5's new improvements."

Daniel felt sick when heard his current state referred to as an improvement. Raven growled next to him.

"He will need help to learn how to use them properly. That is where you come in A-22. What better way for him to learn? I certainly remember you had trouble learning on your own."

The operation had left Daniel drained. There was no way he could possibly get himself up in the air with so little recovery time and Raven's next actions showed that she was fully aware of his unfit condition.

She advanced a couple steps towards the doctor, quickly closing the gap between them. The Erasers made a move forward, but halted when the doctor's raised hand told them to stop.

"You really are crazy," Raven growled dangerously low so that only Dr. Matthews and Daniel could hear her words. Raven was pretty tall for her age, but even she had to lift slightly off her toes so that she could get right in the doctor's face. "You know as well as I that he is not ready to train yet. He's barely recovered, and he doesn't even have the eel DNA to power his wings. How do expect him to—"

"—Fly?" the doctor finished. "I'm impressed that you were able to pick up that he had no eel DNA. Then again, you would have been able to sense a change in his electric field. Right, A-22? You must have taking a liking to the boy. I have never known you to take an interest in someone so quickly."

"He's a thousand times better than you or anyone else in this prison," Raven snorted. "But don't change the subject. How 'bout answering some of my—"

"—Question? Don't worry, A-22. The boy will have sufficient strength and energy to power his wings." The doctor glanced over Raven's head to give Daniel a very knowing look. "He is quite the special case. His body will have sufficient energy and adaptability to use those wings."

"How do you—"

"—Know?" the man said. "I know a lot more than you. Let us just leave it at that."

Daniel was confused by the whole conversation. Raven was right. How was he going to be able to power his wings? Raven had explained why she had eel DNA, but what about himself? How was Dr. Matthews so sure that Daniel would be able to fly? As of right now, Daniel did not feel as if he could lift his wings, let alone fly with them.

"Shall we begin then?" the doctor's voice snapped Daniel out of his musings. Dr. Matthews walked around Raven and then stopped abruptly as if he had another thought. He looked straight into Raven's eyes and said calmly, "You have five minutes to teach D-5 how to fly. After that, I will have the Erasers come out for a little extra encouragement. The whole training ends when the boy flies."

Raven looked furious. "Five minutes!" she sputtered. "You—"

"Fear is an excellent teacher, my dear," the doctor said before leaving the room with the Erasers following and casting malicious grins at the two unfortunate bird-kids.

Daniel was about to buckle from fear. He wasn't sure what was exactly going to happen, but he knew he wasn't going to like it.

Raven on the other hand was livid with barely contained rage. Her companion could literally see small sparks flying off her body.

Muttering to herself, Raven walked over to a small hole in the wall that Daniel hadn't noticed before. It looked kind of like one of those old fashion mail slots. Raven stuck her arms into the hole, and when she took them out again, the straps and rubber gloves were gone.

Raven walked over to Daniel, and her eyes softened when they fell on his terrified expression.

"Hey," she said. "Daniel, just listen to what I say, and you'll be fine."

Daniel certainly did not feel fine, but he nodded.

A second door opposite to the one they entered slid open, and Raven motioned for him to follow her through.

Daniel took a deep breath and stepped onto the other side.

He took in the whole area in one glance.

It looked like a huge arena minus the stands where the fans would sit. Where he was standing was a flat, dirt-covered area that was completely empty except for Raven and himself of course. The walls surrounding the area reached to about 12 feet until they turned into metal poles that crisscrossed to form a huge metal dome that reached up to about another 100 feet. The arena was probably the size of a football field, and the walls were covered with several doors that probably led to more god-forbidden places. Directly across from him, Daniel could see a dark tinted window where he guessed the scientists were snug, waiting to watch the show. Daniel was sure that hidden cameras were spread out in this place, recording his every move to be later analyzed.

"Okay," Raven said. "We have five minutes before the Erasers come out. Pay attention to how I move and do exactly what I tell you to do. These wings are now a part of your body. They work just like how your arms and legs would work. Once you get going, allow instinct to take over. Whatever bird DNA they planted in you should give you enough instinct to help you get started."

Raven's words seemed to meld together into more incomprehensible blurb of nonsense syllables, but he tried to take it all in, knowing that her instructions could be a matter of life or death. Taking deep breaths to try and clear the roaring in his ears, Daniel cleared his mind and then nodded so that Raven knew he had heard what she had said.

"Watch what I do. I'll try to go slow." Raven gave him one last reassuring look (which didn't look all that reassuring) before spreading out her black wings.

She had a short running start before she leaned forward, her body tensing to lift off the ground. Daniel watched wide-eyed as Raven gave a powerful downward trust (Daniel could have sworn that sparks had appeared at the tips of her wings with that movement) while simultaneously jumping easily into the air. Raven continued to stroke the air powerfully with her wings until she had gained altitude. She circled once before landing gracefully, showing off years of practice.

"So what do think?" Raven asked. Daniel could tell she was nervous, and he understood why. He didn't know how much time they left before the five minutes were up, before the Erasers came in to give him a little "encouragement."

"I—I—" Daniel swallowed, trying to regain his voice. "—I can't do this."

"Look, Daniel," Raven said in a voice that didn't leave much room for arguments. "I know that this is sudden and not something you would consider natural. But the School doesn't give us much of a choice. And if you're afraid of heights—"

"No," Daniel cut off. "It's not that."

"Then what is it?" Raven glanced at one of the many doors, looking as if she expected it to open any second, which it might just do.

"It's—it's—" Daniel didn't know how to describe it. He knew he had been in the sky before, but not like this. Now that he thought about it, even the idea of going into an airplane scared him. It wasn't the height that would come with flying that made his body shake in terror; it was something about the sky that practically screamed hostility down on him. He couldn't explain it, but everything about flying in the sky felt so wrong like some danger was waiting for him up there.

Daniel was torn. Staying on the ground was certain death, or at least a very bad mauling. But going up in the air also seemed like a very bad idea. For some reason, the sky seemed off limits to him, and the memory of the story of the winged-kid who fell was certainly not helping his confidence.

Obviously the scientists had grown impatient, and a warning light went off next to one of the doors that was slowly opening.

Raven's eyes widened when the doors began to slide open. She grabbed Daniel's shoulders and looked right into his eyes.

"Daniel," she said sternly, gaining his full attention. Her eyebrows were furrowed together in determination. "I am not about to let the Erasers get you. I will do everything I can to keep them away from you, but Matthews was serious. This won't end until you fly. You need to at least try."

The doors were fully open, and three Erasers prowled out towards the two waiting bird-kids.

Raven released Daniel and said, "Go to the other side of the arena. Start there and I'll try to keep the Erasers off you as long as I can."

Daniel was about to argue, but Raven's look cut him off. He nodded. The only way he could help was to fly.

Before turning to meet the Erasers, Raven gave one last look of encouragement and called, "Good luck, Daniel. Don't die on me yet." With that, she turned to face the Erasers.

Daniel stared at his fellow bird-kid for a moment. Her hands had come alive with electricity, a blindingly bright light that seemed to have come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It pulsed with its own life and circled and danced protectively around Raven's arms.

He would have spent the rest of the day watching this wild wonder, but a howl from an Eraser brought him back to reality.

Daniel dashed quickly away, praying to some unseen force that Raven would be okay.

_Fly, _he told himself. How in the world was he supposed to do that?

He stopped for a moment and raised his dark wings like he had seen Raven done. They still hurt to move, but they responded instantly, and after testing them for a while, he found they were easy to maintain control.

Now to fly… Easier said than done.

The next few breathless moments shall not be described much, except that it had consisted of many failures.

The new bird-kid could only get a couple of feet off the ground before gravity reminded him of who was in control at the moment, and each failure added to the apprehension growing in the pit of his stomach.

After another failed attempt, Daniel picked himself off the dirt floor, disgusted with himself. Raven had made her flight seem effortless, like the air had simply picked her up and supported her all the way up to the arena's outer limits. He, in complete contrast, clumsily jumped, tried a few feeble flaps, before finding his face being reintroduced to the ground.

The battle behind him was definitely not helping. Daniel could her sounds of Erasers' yelps and Raven's screams. He didn't know if they were from pain and anger, but he did know that the longer he took, the more likely Raven was going to get seriously injured.

A particular vicious shriek from an Eraser made all the hair on the back of Daniel's head stand on end. Without thinking, Daniel reached into his grimy jeans and pulled out a… pen? For a moment, Daniel stared at the object in confusion, wondering why he had it and why he had pulled it out. There was nothing special about the pen, no markings or anything. So why…?

Another howl cut through the thought. Angry with himself for getting distracted, Daniel slipped it back into his pocket and focused on trying to fly.

Daniel raised his wings once more and prepared to give himself a running start.

Suddenly, pain exploded in the small of Daniel's back, and he felt himself tumble painfully across the dirt until he lay sprawled a few feet away, slightly winded.

The Eraser was on him before Percy had time to comprehend what had just happened.

"Hello, _freak," _the wolf-man growled, his disgusting breathe blowing vehemently right into Daniel's face.

Something clicked in Daniel's mind for a moment, and Daniel lashed out, still in his position on the floor, towards the Eraser's legs. The Eraser, not expecting to encounter resisted, easily fell when he found his legs buckle beneath him.

Daniel jumped easily to his feet and attacked the Eraser without much thought. He felt the familiar movements of hand-to-hand combat come to him, and he managed to get in a few good, solid punches that would definitely leave their mark later.

The Eraser eventually realized what had happened and pounced at the bird-kid. Daniel's mind went into auto drive for a second, and he felt himself smoothly side step so that the Eraser barreled past his opponent.

The second time the Eraser approached more cautiously.

Circling each other, the two opposing hybrids exchanged blows in rapid succession. Daniel matched every one of the Eraser's hits, just as he countered every one of Daniel's blows.

This wasn't going to last. Daniel felt like he could easily outmaneuver the Eraser's bulky body, but the Eraser was ruthless and had amazing strength that Daniel could not hope to keep up with. Already his arms held several bruises from where he had stopped the punches from hitting something more vulnerable. His only advantage besides his more agile body was his wings. If only he knew how to work them…

Daniel barely dodged another blow, but didn't have time to congratulate himself when the rough paw of an Eraser connected with his shoulder.

The boy screamed out in pain. Turning around, Daniel saw a second Eraser advancing towards him. Both Erasers had twin smiles on their faces, which stretched their already strange faces into grotesque masks.

Daniel backed up, keeping pace with the Erasers who moved slowly towards him as if they had all the time in the world.

"Get away from him!"

One of the Erasers crumpled, howling in pain as a sudden burst of electricity coursed through his body.

Raven appeared from above him, and Daniel got a glimpse of her eyes, which startled him when he saw the difference.

He couldn't see the whites of her eyes or even the pupils, instead her eyes held an eerie purple-white light that glowed in beat with the electricity that spun angrily around her body.

She hovered right above the Erasers, taunting them with her currently unreachable position. "Come on, boys," she snarled down at them. "It's not fair to gang up two on one."

The two remaining Erasers howled up at her in frustration, and one made an astounding leap towards the bird-girl.

Raven clearly wasn't expecting the Eraser to jump or even reach her, so as soon as the Eraser made contact, both bird-kid and Eraser fell heavily back towards the earth.

The missing third Eraser soon joined the skirmish, and helped the first one in relentlessly beating up the fallen teen.

Seeing Raven fall like that, Daniel ignored the growling Eraser in front of him and charged the two on top of Raven. He managed to rip one off of Raven, but as soon as he did, the Eraser turned and began to snap his fangs dangerously close to Daniel's exposed skin.

_Fly, you idiot. _Daniel thought he heard Raven's voice in his head. But that was impossible, the bird-girl was currently wrestling with the other Eraser on the ground, so she couldn't have spoken, and yet— _Fly! I told you not to die yet!_

Instinct.

Daniel's wings snapped open, and the Eraser was tossed back in a surprised daze. With a single downward thrust, Daniel felt himself lift upwards.

It was wobbly, but it was better than nothing.

Following through on that action, Daniel forced his wings to pump downwards again, moving out of the reach of those snapping jaws.

He sensed something to his right and saw that Raven had joined him.

His mind went numb for a second, and he felt himself slip back towards the ground.

Noticing the loss of altitude, Raven grabbed his arm and propelled both of them further upwards.

"Move your wings, idiot," Raven yelled at him. "I can't keep both of us airborne forever."

That sent a mental kick into his brain, and Daniel began moving his wings again, hesitantly at first, but with a scowl from Raven, he began to pump his new wings with more power.

Now that the wings were supporting him completely, Daniel felt pain rack his body. His body was not used to the additional appendages, and they were still recovering from the injuries he had sustained from the operation. But the pain he felt in the air was much more preferable than the pain he would experience on the ground.

Daniel looked downwards and gasped as it suddenly clicked that he was flying. He was in pain, still scared out of his wits that fire was going to rain down from the heavens, but he was flying.

An alarm sounded and the Erasers retreated through one of the doors with disappointed growls.

Daniel looked at Raven, slightly envious of the ease in which she kept her body in the air, while his own body seemed to want to pull him downwards with gravity.

Then he saw all the wounds that littered her body. She had several scratches across her arms and legs. Her right cheek was bruised and would probably be swollen by tomorrow. A wound above her eye had yet to stop bleeding and she had to close the eye to keep the blood out.

At the sight of her wound, Daniel became aware of the damage he had sustained from the Erasers. His shoulder was bleeding heavily, and both of his arms throbbed with the many bruises.

Raven turned her one good eye to Daniel. It had stopped glowing and now reflected a dull ache that Daniel felt himself.

"So," Raven said grimly. "You're flying, Daniel."

Daniel looked down once more. He was presently hovering a good 50 or 60 feet off the ground. He was covered in his own blood and hurt more than when he had started. Erasers were somewhere on the other side of the wall, howling for his blood. Just outside the arena were a bunch of scientists who were celebrating his success and planning more tests.

"Yeah," he answered, his voice hollow and devoid of any joy or sense of accomplishment. "I'm flying."

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><p><strong>AN: If you didn't catch the hints, the reason why Percy does not need eel DNA like Raven is because of his demigod blood, which I'm just assuming makes him far more adaptable than regular humans.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	10. Chapter 10: That Feeling

**PLEASE READ BELOW. EXPLAINS A COUPLE IMPORTANT THINGS!**

**Here we are again. This chapter has skipped a couple weeks. I do not want to describe those weeks because they are pretty boring since it falls into a routine sort of thing. Percy and Raven go through experiments, testing, and training each and every day. Blah, blah, blah. I know, boring, right? Nothing special really happens except that Percy gets better at flying (although he's still scared).**

**If you haven't figured it out yet (although I hope you did because it was fairly obvious), Percy is scared to fly because of Zeus. He may not remember it, but Zeus is not exactly on friendly terms with him, and therefore he does not like Poseidon's son in his territory. So why hasn't Zeus attacked him yet? My guess would be that it's the same as when Percy flew on the Pegasus—it's a sort of compromise, or Zeus feels sorry for Percy (yes, maybe the big scary god has a heart), or Zeus is not yet aware of Percy's condition…**

**Disclaimer: If you haven't gotten the hint yet, I'll tell you one more time (because I'm getting kind of tired of writing these things so this will be implied in future chapters). Okay here it goes… I do not own Percy Jackson or Maximum Ride. They belong to Rick Riordan and James Patterson.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 10 - That Feeling<strong>

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><p>The boy landed on the ground and had to resist the urge to hug it or something. This happened every time after he had flown. The sky still scared him. The only reason he flew nearly everyday now was because the Whitecoats scared him now. So because of his dominating fear of the scientists, the boy always complied with their demands to fly.<p>

It never really got easier—flying. Well, it did physically (his muscles had become stronger and more developed in the pass couple weeks), but mentally, the bird-boy could not shake the feeling that flying was completely wrong. Well, it _was_ wrong considering humans shouldn't be able to fly, but for the boy, it was more than that, something about the sky seemed unfriendly towards him. A few times, the boy could have sworn that as soon as he had lifted off the ground, thunder echoed through the desert as if warning him, threatening him.

The worse part about all this fear was that the teen was sure if he still had his memories, he would understand why he felt this way, but the time spent here had not been gracious to the bird-kid and had not returned what he had lost.

Completely exhausted inside and out, the bird-boy sat down heavily as the last shrill sound of the bell that signaled the end of his training waned into silence.

His head between his knees, the boy could hear unhurried steps coming towards him.

"You okay?" It was Raven thankfully. The boy didn't respond right away as he continued to try to catch his breath.

"Dylan?" his fellow bird-kid asked, using the new name she had recently picked out for him.

Over the past weeks, Raven and the boy had gone through several names, trying to rediscover his lost one. So far the list included Michael, Nathan, Will, Austin, Gabriel (that one only lasted a couple days and would have lasted longer if Raven hadn't shortened it to 'Gabe;' for some reason, the boy definitely didn't like that one), and Tavin. So far none of them had worked, so the two bird-kids continued in their name game.

"Dylan?" she called again. "Are you okay?"

Dylan took another deep breath and stood up shakily. "Yeah," he said. "Just catching my breath."

Raven frowned, but the boy didn't miss the quick flash of concern in her eyes. Dylan smiled back gratefully.

If anyone else had given him that look of concern, Dylan probably would have hurt him or her or at least have given the person a hard warning. Looks like that made Dylan think he was weak or something like that, but in the weeks Dylan had gotten to know Raven, he knew that a look like that meant something different than it would on someone else. Raven was a master of hiding her emotions under a hard, hotheaded demeanor. The bit of soft emotion she had shown was rare, especially when the Whitecoats were watching and had helped to calm Dylan's spastic nerves.

Dylan once again sent a silent prayer of thanks to whatever gods might be out there. Another thing he was grateful for was that the Whitecoats allowed them to train together (they had found out that both bird-kids were much more cooperative when placed together) since she made the whole thing a lot more bearable.

Today's training had consisted of several weird laser weapons. They were supposed to improve their agility in the air. Dylan's body now ached where the lasers had hit him. They weren't lethal or anything, but they definitely left a pretty nasty burn. Raven had faired better than Dylan, but even she had received some hard hits.

One of the alarms next to a door beeped, and their exit opened up, showing that they were done for the day.

Raven and Dylan made their way to the door, grateful that the day's training was over.

Dylan stepped through the door and the normal sight greeted them.

A small feast was set out before them, and two doctors were waiting to bandage them up.

This was the only part of the day that Dylan didn't feel like a prisoner or a subject. Despite the rough and cruel treatment, the Whitecoats knew how to treat their prized subjects. Because using their wings required a lot of energy, the bird-kids had a bigger appetite than a normal human. Their dinner always looked like a banquet set out to feed a small army.

Even though he was starving, Dylan sat down in a chair to allow the doctor to treat his various wounds. Besides Raven, the two doctors (one male, one female) were the only people Dylan could stand in this place. They were nicer and gentler, but despite that, Dylan couldn't bring himself to actually like them—they still worked for the School.

The male doctor fluttered around Dylan, talking amiably, but Dylan wasn't really interested in listening. His mind was drifting to the thing that occupied his mind nearly all of his waking hours that he wasn't trying to survive the scientist's crazy tests.

Escape.

The one word had blazed itself permanently inside his psych as he knew it had already done years ago in Raven's mind.

They talked every now and then about escape, but they had to be careful. Raven was sure their room was bugged and the best time to actual speak about plans was in the arena where explosions would hide their voices, but obviously it was hard to keep a conversation going while trying to dodge Erasers or guns that were ready to take your head off.

So Dylan and Raven did most of their planning separately while sharing vital information in the arena.

The sudden sting of some kind of medicine on his wounds brought Dylan back from his inner thoughts. He winced, and the doctor gave him a sympathetic look.

"All done, D-5," the doctor announced. "You're getting better. I only counted about twenty or so serious injuries today."

_If that was supposed to be an encouragement_, Dylan though sourly, _it sucked._

Outside though, Dylan merely smiled and gave a shy thanks.

The doctor nodded and joined his companion. The door opened briefly to allow the two out, and when it did, Dylan could hear the Eraser's warning growl outside, but neither of the two bird-kids tried any escape attempt.

When they were left alone, both approached their meal.

Dylan piled food onto his plate and wondered, yet again, where the School got its funding and who would be crazy enough to help this demented place.

Sitting down next to Raven, Dylan paused before eating.

_Please,_Dylan prayed silently. _If your there, please help us._

Dylan didn't know why he did this. He didn't even know who he was talking to. On occasion, Dylan would catch himself in the middle of a prayer and wonder if he was crazy. But no matter what, he would always feel slightly comforted by this strange habit, as if someone out there was really listening.

Their dinner commenced in silence. Raven had told him that this room is probably the place the scientists watched them the most in case they tried to escape or something, so the two bird-kids made it a point never to speak.

When they finished their meal, Raven stood up and went to the mail slot hole and inserted her arms. After a few moments, she drew them out and they were covered with her normal rubber strappings.

The door opened and five Erasers entered, growling. They leashed up Raven and began their normal procession back to their room.

Dylan passed through the doorway and felt _it _again. _It _was a feeling that was hard to explain, but it happened every time Dylan passed next to a door. _It_was a feeling in the deep part of his gut. Something just beyond the plaster and metal of the wall was calling out to Dylan, and in the back part of his mind, Dylan wanted so desperately to reach back towards it.

Dylan paused for just a second, but it was long enough to earn him a hard, impatient blow from the Eraser behind him.

"Keep moving, _freak,"_the Eraser growled.

The newest bird-kid muttered a curse at the Erasers who both teens agreed were bigger freaks then themselves, but proceeded to follow the instructions.

They continued marching down the hallway, and the Erasers shoved the bird-kids into their cages for the night.

Dylan shifted around so he could get more comfortable but then snorted at himself. Comfortable was quite impossible in his current environment.

"Dylan," Raven called to him.

The bird-boy crawled to the front so he could see Raven peering back at him.

"What was that?" she asked. "You paused right at the doorway. Normally I would think it was nothing, but you've been doing that for a while now."

Dylan truly didn't know how to answer that. _He_didn't even know what _it_was.

"I dunno," he answered truthfully. "It's nothing, I guess."

Raven studied him for a second, obviously not believing the last statement, but she shrugged and turned away.

"Good night, Dylan," she murmured.

Dylan smiled. That was another thing he liked about Raven—she didn't snoop. "Good night."

Dylan leaned against the wall of his cage, musing over his own words. _It's nothing…_

_It_ wasn't 'nothing,' _it_ was important. Dylan could feel _it_ deep inside of him. Hesitantly, Dylan lifted a hand to his head, and inside his mind he raised his mental hand once again to brush it against the wall that still held firm.

The pain was instantaneous and Dylan yanked back his hand, smothering a cry that would have woken Raven.

He did this often. He would touch that wall, hoping for it to give away, but it was always there, taunting him, frustrating him, keeping what was rightfully his locked up behind a barricade of pain.

He hissed at himself, angry at his own incompetence.

_It's nothing… _his own words mocked him.

It wasn't, and Dylan knew it, he just couldn't remember why…

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><p><strong>~Bluesky21543<strong>


	11. Chapter 11: Breaking up Routine

**Yay! Fun chapter! BTW this story is rated T for violence, just saying. Don't worry about swearing or anything sexual because I'm definitely not going to be writing anything like that.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 11 – Breaking up Routine<strong>

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><p>Raven leaned against the side of her cage and savored the morning silence. The boy was still asleep, which left her nothing to do, but relax in the sweet quietness that would surely be broken as soon as the Erasers came.<p>

Getting close to the cage's wire door, Raven peered out. In the cage directly across from hers, Raven could make out the silhouette of Daniel's sleeping figure. The bird-girl smiled softly. Asleep, the boy looked so calm and peaceful. Raven wondered if she looked like that during her sleep. She doubted it. It was not uncommon for the boy to be yelling at her to wake up because the nightmares had seemed so real, so terrifying…

Raven squeezed her eyes shut and allowed that sweet, sweet silence to chase those images. Next to her, the rhythmic breathing calmed her own.

Finally gaining control of her breathing after the self-induced panic attack, Raven opened her eyes again to watch the boy in his slumber.

Raven wasn't sure why, but something about watching the boy sleep caused a wave of peaceful nostalgia to wash over her. Maybe it was because he reminded her about her brother, not physically of course, in that aspect they were pretty different, but being close to the teen filled her with something she had believed she lost years ago.

Raven cringed at the sound of the door opening. The sound instantly shattered her illusion of peace, and Dylan was immediately awake.

Time to start a new day.

Routine.

That's a good way to describe her life. Her life was one big fat routine. Nothing strayed from it.

Wake up; Erasers come; they growl at her; she insults them; they're out of their cage; walk down same hall; go to room; do the same training or experiments; get bruises; take a break or two; get more bruises; punch a few Erasers; get clawed by said Erasers; eat dinner; go back. Wait for the next day where the whole cycle begins again.

Raven was tired of this.

Routine.

And before she knew it, Raven was once again in the arena with Dylan at her side.

Raven allowed a small sigh to be heard. Dylan glanced at her questioningly. She never sighed outside of their rooms, but today just seemed horribly depressing to her.

She just shrugged and said, "I'm tired of this."

Dylan nodded understandingly, knowing instantly what the vague comment was referring to. They both were.

The bells rung out, announcing the beginning of their training session, and the doors began to open.

Both bird-kids tensed at the sound.

Dylan turned one last time to Raven to give her a reassuring smile.

That was the last thing Raven saw before the whole underworld seemed to claw its way up into the land of the living.

_Crap._

That was all Raven could think when she caught sight of what the scientists had planned for them today.

Not one, but several of the doors had opened to release more Erasers Raven had ever seen in her life, and since she had seen quite a few, that was saying a lot.

For the first time in years, Raven felt something she had thought she had forgot the meaning of. Fear. Hard, cold, unadulterated fear.

Sure, the day Dylan had to learn to fly was pretty scaring, but constant training had made her numb in battle. Before each session, Raven shut down all her emotions except anger, which she used to give her the strength to fight, but seeing all those Erasers literally _pour_ into the arena, Raven's usual façade snapped.

"Crap." The word came again, but this time out loud as Raven so eloquently summed up their ordeal in that one remark.

Raven was not sure what had eventually snapped her out of the mind-numbing fear that froze her entire body. Maybe it was the pounding of Erasers' feet on the dirt ground, or maybe the sharp, blood-hungry shrieks, or maybe the overwhelming stench of Erasers… Perhaps the combination of all three had called the bird-kid back to reality, and Raven steeled herself and prepared to fight the demons.

"Fly!" she commanded, but Dylan was already launching himself into the air.

_This is crazy! They have never done anything this extreme! What were they thinking? _Raven thought viciously, cursing the Whitecoats.

Panic and fear threatened to overwhelm Raven, but she pushed it down, calling up her anger to lash out on the mass of Erasers below.

Staying up in the air was not an option. If they did that, the Whitecoats would bring out guns and start shooting. Little bullets were much harder to see and keep track of than a bulky Eraser.

Raven gave Dylan a tiny nod before they both plunged into the howling mass of teeth and claws.

Raven went on autopilot. In the constricted space, there wasn't much room to be witty or creative, so Raven simply lashed out hoping that her hit would knock out an Eraser or at least wound it enough that it couldn't fight any more.

Kick. Dodge. Hit. Duck. Fly. Repeat.

Raven was a mad whirl of electricity and flailing limbs, but she wasn't invincible. Already her left leg was cramping up from some injury. She could feel blood dripping down her right arm and back. Claws and fangs ripped at her clothes, occasionally connecting with the skin beneath it.

Even fighting, Raven allowed her thoughts to run as her body went through the motions. Did the Whitecoats want her dead? Had she lost her usefulness? Or did they just want to see how she would fair in a desperate situation? Whatever the reason, Raven was furious.

A particularly large Eraser locked eyes with the bird-kid, snarling. Raven returned the gesture and charged. The Eraser lowered his head like bull and ran full speed at her.

Normally, Raven would side step and laugh viciously as the stupid Eraser would steam roll right past her, but today, the several bodies of Erasers would not allow her to do that.

She continued on her path towards the huge Eraser, kicking a few other ones out of her way without missing a step.

The Eraser seemed up for the challenge and also knocked away the Erasers in his path, not caring if they were his fellow brethren.

The finally met, and at the last second, Raven dove under, confusing the Eraser with her sudden disappearance, and lashed out at his legs.

The Eraser clumsily fell, and when he stood again he was spitting out dirt and looked absolutely murderous.

Raven didn't even have time to think when the paw plunged into her side. Gasping slightly, Raven felt the claws dig mercilessly into her body, causing racks of pain to shoot fire through her body. Confused for a second, she blinked at the Eraser roaring vengeance into her face.

It was actually the putrid smell of his breath that got her moving again. She punched the Eraser smack in the face, dislodging his claws from her side and leaped into the air.

Raven didn't even know what she was doing. Her emotions were wildly spinning yet subdued at the same time. Her face was completely devoid of any expression. The electricity had amped up to new levels as she dove.

Bringing out her foot at the last second, the combination of her electricity and her speed delivered a devastating blow onto the surprised Eraser. He spun, and later Raven would have sworn she had heard the snap over all the other sounds in the arena.

Her mind suddenly turned blank on as she watched the Eraser fall. His body threw up dust into the air at his impact and didn't move again.

Raven stared aghast at the body of the bulky Eraser. Never once in the past had she ever killed someone. The Erasers had always retreated before something serious had happened.

The bird-girl was uncertain about how she should be feeling at this point, but the unmoving Eraser made her realize something. This was a death match. It was either the bird-kids or the Erasers.

Looking at the Eraser again, Raven felt resolve wash over her, making her momentarily forget the dreadful pain in her side. She hated playing the Whitecoats game, but she was a survivor.

Her hand went unconsciously to her side where blood was pouring out. It was deep. Tearing off a sleeve, Raven made a crude bandage that did little to help the pain or stop the flow of her precious blood.

Raven looked at the black window that the Whitecoats hid behind, and holding onto her resolve, she buried all her emotions and pain and dove into the fray.

After a few minutes, or maybe a few hours (Raven had lost track of time), the number of Erasers had dwindled to about twenty. Many more littered the floor or had retreated through the doors.

The Erasers backed up for a moment, regrouping for another attack and allowing the bird-kids a chance to regain their breath.

Raven stood there, shaking. Her breath came in ragged gasps and every inch of her body screamed in agony. Beside her, Dylan had faired just as well as she had, perhaps a little bit better.

Raven looked back at the twenty or so remaining Erasers, her heart jumping to her throat while fear settled like a heavy stone in the pit of her stomach. Feeling sick, Raven keeled over, retching. A metallic taste filled her mouth, and she found herself spitting out her own blood.

The gaping wound now sent a burning sensation throughout her entire body, making the pain increase tenfold.

She had taken worst blows than Dylan. With the Erasers she shared history and raw feelings; of course they would go for her the hardest.

"Raven! Raven!"

When her head stopped spinning for a second, Raven realized that Dylan was kneeling next to her calling out her name.

She looked up and smiled (it looked more like a grimace). "Good job staying alive," she managed to gasp.

"Here." The bird-girl didn't really fully acknowledge Dylan's voice, but she did feel Dylan drag her back a few feet so she could lean against a wall. She looked and saw that she was sitting against the door they always came out of. The bird-girl chuckled darkly to herself. All that fighting and they just came back to the beginning.

She looked up and attempted to smile at Dylan, but he wasn't fooled, and neither was Raven.

The Erasers still hadn't showed any sign of attacking yet, so Raven stayed put. She looked at them. Their numbers had significantly dwindled, but even though Dylan and she were excellent fighters, there was no way either of them would be able to survive the second attack.

She was going to say something to Dylan, but she noticed he was no longer looking at her. He was staring intently at the door as if he was trying to decipher some hidden message. Raven was confused; no amount of staring was going to open that door.

"Dylan?" She was surprised how rasping her voice sounded.

The boy turned his gaze back to his wounded companion.

For a moment, Raven was startled. Those green eyes looked _alive._More alive than she had seen them before. She was going to question him when a deep-throated roar shattered their momentary standstill.

Raven scrambled to her feet, hissing at the pain. Being so close to the wall, took away their advantage of flying, but neither Dylan nor Raven moved away from the door; it was better to have something solid at your back.

Before she could blink, the Erasers were upon her.

Raven screamed her fury and her electricity exploded in the faces of several Erasers. She whirled and fought tooth and nail, but her punches definitely lacked the strength she had begun with.

Her body screamed at her to stop, to just roll over and die to end this torture, but resolve once again dominated over any other feeling and she kept fighting.

Suddenly, lights burst in front of her vision, and Raven felt herself falling from the heavy blow to her head.

The Erasers descended on her like she was fresh meat.

Raven clenched her eyes close waiting for the teeth to meet her neck, but instead she heard a sharp yelp.

Looking up, Raven saw Dylan standing over her, fending off the Erasers.

"Get away from her!" the boy shouted, scaring even Raven with his ferocity. She had never heard Dylan so mad, but she allowed a flicker of warmth spread in her chest towards her friend.

Not about to let the Erasers tear him apart, Raven gathered all the electricity she could muster and thrust it at the Erasers. The blow actually sent the Erasers a good few feet back, but it did little to hurt them.

They were back on their feet and snarling, but before they could attack—

Dylan spun around so that he was looking straight into Raven's eyes. She was surprised by the blazing anger she saw there and something else… determination?

Before she could do anything, Dylan spoke.

"We're leaving NOW!"

Raven wasn't sure what exactly happened, but she saw Dylan thrust his right hand out towards the door and it opened so fast that Raven saw little sparks fly around the edges.

With his free arm, Dylan grabbed Raven and hauled her towards the opening. Once on the other side, he made a sliding gesture and the door slammed shut.

Raven was horribly confused. The door required a pass code so how…?

Dylan saw Raven open her mouth and interrupted her.

"Not now," he said. "Right now we're escaping."

He turned around, hand raised, and the second door opened.

Despite the thousands of questions, despite the Erasers currently howling for her blood, despite the crazy Whitecoats who tried to kill her, despite her body screaming out in pain, despite everything, Raven had to smile…

…because looking into the boy's eyes, she saw the fire again.

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><p><strong>AN: So how did Percy open the door? It was mentioned before, but if you don't remember you can either (a) read the story again so that you can find out how he did it or (b) wait until I update.**

**Just FYI since some of you have been asking, this is NOT a PercyxRaven story! In my personal opinion, most characterxOC are just weird and normally don't work out that well.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	12. Chapter 12: A Familiar Tug

**A/N: Still some violence, so again this is rated T.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12 – A Familiar Tug<strong>

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><p><strong>(Rewind: The Erasers have just finished their first attack and have backed off to give the two bird-kids a small break.)<strong>

Dylan gasped, trying desperately to fill his lungs with air again. He had never felt this tired or beat up in his life, or at least, in the few weeks of life he could remember. The remaining twenty or so Erasers had backed off for a second in order to regroup or something. Dylan was grateful; he needed a breather.

His legs trembled as they struggled to keep his body in an upright position. His wings ached from the constant diving he had done to attack then retreat from the Erasers. Every inch of his body was covered in bruises and cuts.

Looking at Raven, Dylan groaned to see his companion in a much worst condition than even he was.

He was especially worried about a horrid wound on her side that looked like she had tried to bandage, but in the arena, no proper medical care was available, so the injury had gone right on bleeding.

Suddenly, Dylan watched in horror as Raven collapsed to her knees. She was coughing up something, and it took a moment for him to realize it was blood.

In a moment, Dylan was at her side calling out her name.

Dylan cursed silently. Anger was bubbling inside of him now. He couldn't stand this. The desire to rip the school apart was so fervent that it nearly took Dylan's breath away.

"Raven! Raven!" he called out, the desperation and anger battling in his voice.

The girl beneath his hands shuddered before finally looking up.

She smiled at him, but to Dylan it looked more like a grimace. "Good job staying alive," she rasped.

Dylan gazed at her sadly. She was having trouble breathing with all the blood blocking her windpipe, and her current position wasn't helping. Looking around, Dylan saw that they were only a few feet from the wall.

"Here," he said. He half-carried, half-dragged Raven towards the wall and laid her against it. Raven let out a sigh as her breathing relaxed a bit, but Dylan could still see a little blood trickling from the side of her mouth.

She looked up at him and smiled again, but he wasn't fooled. There was no way either of them could survive another attack.

Dylan grit his teeth in frustration as an overwhelming feeling of uselessness welled up inside him.

The helpless feeling triggered something. It wasn't exactly a memory, but it just felt familiar and unwanted.

For some reason, Dylan was sure the last time he felt this way, something horrible had happened, but what?

He looked at the door Raven was leaning against and _it_ was there again. That familiar tug in his gut. Something calling out to him. Whatever _it _was, it was burning itself into his mind.

Dylan stared intently at the door—the thing standing between them and freedom. This time he mentally reached back towards the feeling, and instantly whatever _it _was responded to his calling. _It_ felt alive and full of energy; _its_ call multiplied tenfold, and Dylan felt himself take a shaky step towards _it_. Now a little closer, Dylan could feel its presence even more profoundly. _It_ was connected to the door some how. He cocked his head; _it _was trying to tell him something, something about—

"Dylan?"

Raven's voice cut through his concentration, and he snapped back into reality.

Dylan glanced at Raven. His body was trembling. He was so close to the answer.

A howl cut through the heavy air, and he watched dumbly as Raven stumbled to her feet once more.

Raven didn't move away from the door, and Dylan was glad. _It _was close to the door, and he didn't feel like moving away from _it_.

Dylan looked at Raven and had to smile when she put on a scowl that would have made Death himself have second thoughts.

The glance at Raven had made Dylan miss the Erasers' charge, and before he had time to think, they were upon him.

Dylan didn't bother trying to use his wings to fly. He was too close to the wall and could not easily maneuver to a better place. Instead he used them to fight.

His wings lashed out in time with his hands, knocking Erasers over with their weight and blocking some blows that would have hit vital spots.

He was fighting desperately, trying to find Raven again. He had heard her scream, but he didn't know if it was from her anger or pain.

He knocked away two Erasers and finally saw her on the other side of the swirling mass of fur and teeth.

Dylan watched in horror as his friend fought with everything she had, but it wasn't enough.

The bird-kid saw a flicker of movement at the edge of his vision.

"Raven!" he screamed, his voice tearing from his throat.

The warning came too late, and Dylan heard the sickening thud as the Eraser's paw connected to her head.

Raven hadn't even finished falling to the ground when Dylan punched the Eraser who had hit her.

Dylan didn't really know what had happened, but he had seen red cloud his vision and he had charged through the fray, ignoring the claws that tore his skin, and before he knew it, he felt the Eraser's head jerk back from his blow.

Dylan heard a sharp snap, and he wasn't sure if he had killed the Eraser or not, but at the moment, that didn't really matter. The Erasers had pounced as soon as they saw Raven fall, and now he was fending them off.

"Get away from her!" he roared, his voice and vision laced with hatred and anger.

In the back of his mind, Dylan could feel _it _again. He didn't have to turn around to know that he was directly in front of the door. This time he didn't hesitate and he instinctively reached out towards it and immediately felt its power rush over him like a wave.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end, and the next instant, the Erasers were blown back a couple feet by Raven's electricity. That gave him the opening he needed.

With any hesitation, Dylan whirled around, staring straight into Raven's violet eyes.

"We're leaving NOW!" he shouted, briefly wondering where all his confidence came from.

Dylan wasn't sure what happened. He still wasn't even sure what _it _was. But the anger and the instinctive push seemed to put Dylan's mind on auto drive.

Raising his hand, Dylan felt the sharp feeling in his gut intensify, and without any uncertainty, Dylan pulled at it with all his will.

_It _responded instantly, moving, churning, and using its connection with the door to force it wide open in a heartbeat.

Dylan felt the sharp feeling in his gut lessen slightly, and he could almost hear _it _sigh as if to say "it's about time."

Grabbing a stunned Raven, he dragged her through the door and used the same gut feeling to close the door.

Once inside, Dylan turned to Raven. She was horribly confused, and she was open to ask a question when he interrupted her.

"Not now," he said briskly. He could still hear the Erasers howling and pounding on the other side of the door. "Right now we're escaping."

A small thrill leapt inside Dylan at those words, but he pushed it down. They were escaping; they weren't completely out of this yet.

He looked at the second door and repeated the same actions, pulling at _it _to force the door to open.

Nodding at Raven who was smiling brilliantly, Dylan took off down the hallway with Raven following close behind.

Despite her injuries, Raven kept up pretty well. In fact she overtook Dylan in only a few seconds and began to navigate through the confusing twists and turns.

Dylan understood. Raven had been in here many years; even though they weren't out yet, she was sparking with energy, literally.

Raven came upon another door and stood back. Approaching it, Dylan thrust his hand out, the gut feeling pulling at him, a little uncomfortable, but not painful or anything. The door gave a small groan of protest, but eventually complied like its counterparts.

Dylan had absolutely no idea where he was at the moment, but Raven seemed to know exactly which turns to take, so he blindly followed her, only stepping in front when a door came in their path.

An alarm had long since sounded and added to the echoes of their pounding feet and heartbeats. Just underneath that, yells and shouts (and a few howls) could be heard, but at the moment, Dylan wasn't focusing on them.

They had come across a few scientists, but they did nothing to stop the two bird-kids. Part of the reason was that Raven was throwing electricity randomly around her body, and Dylan was sure that her eyes were doing that weird glowing thing. In short, between the electricity, the blood splattered across her body, and her murderous scowl, she looked terrifying.

Dylan would have stopped to give the scientists a piece of his mind, but he couldn't jeopardize their only shot at freedom.

"This is it!" Raven shouted over the alarm.

They had stopped in a large room that looked somewhat like a lobby. In front of them was a large door. It was reinforced with steel and looked pretty intimidating. It was one of the few things in this School that wasn't completely white.

"Can you do it?" she asked, breathlessly.

Her eyes shown with life Dylan had never seen, and he felt it give him energy, but turning back towards the large door, he felt doubt settle heavily in his stomach.

"I'll try," he answered shakily. The confidence he had felt in the arena seemed to have evaporated, but when he glanced at Raven he felt it spark to life again. She was smiling.

"That's all I ask," she whispered. And despite the alarms blaring, Dylan had heard every word.

Dylan faced the immense door, both hands outstretched. _It _was there; actually there was a whole lot of _it_ calling out to him, responding to his will, but the door was huge and so far refused to budge.

Groaning, the bird-kid poured more of his will into the gut feeling that doubled in intensity with each passing second. The gut feeling would have made any normal human pass out in pain, but Dylan refused to let it overwhelm him. The only thing keeping him stable right now was Raven's hand on his shoulder. Her simple touch reassured him, and he forced himself to continue.

Howls resonated down one of the hallways, and Dylan tensed, losing some of his concentration. Raven's hand tightened on his shoulder, and she began talking. Dylan couldn't make out what she was saying, but he knew her intent. She was using her voice to block out the howls.

Dylan couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration towards Raven. To anyone else, this act would have seemed completely unrelated to their situation at hand, but to Dylan it once again reminded him of Raven's courage. Her voice never wavered, but continued in a calm, quiet way. Never once did it show the girl's fears or doubts.

The bird-kid knew that Raven felt all these things and more, but at the moment she was burying them deep in order to lend him her voice.

Dylan focused on his task, only allowing Raven's voice to reach his ears. The intense pull in his gut deepened with each moment. His breath was coming in gasps and his legs no longer felt like they could support his weight. His vision was just about to go black when—

The door creaked and then opened suddenly with a blast of hot desert air.

Raven looked at him with a wild grin, but Dylan was confused. He hadn't opened the door; he hadn't even close to budging it… so who?

Raven noticed Dylan's confusion and they both turned around to find a shock.

Behind the lobby's desk, someone was just lifting her finger off one of the keys to the computer. Dylan did a double take before he realized it was the female doctor.

He had only come in contact with her when she and her partner came to bandage them up after their training sessions, and even then, he never really had a chance to talk to her. She had always worked on Raven, and Dylan knew that with her tart tongue, there was no way Raven would have been able to smooth talk the woman into becoming an ally. So why…?

She looked calmly back at the two bewildered bird-kids, and then she turned her gaze to stare straight into Dylan's green eyes.

The woman nodded, smirking mischievously at them while her ebony eyes that matched her equally dark hair flashed with mirth. She lifted a finger to her lips as if to say "this is our little secret."

An Eraser howled, and the woman looked towards the sound with slight distaste.

"Go," the woman spoke. "There is a car waiting for you exactly 100 meters from this door. It has the things you will need to survive for a while."

"Why are you—" Raven began.

"Go," the dark-eyed woman said, her voice not faltering even though the Erasers were getting closer.

Dylan looked at the open door and then back at the woman only to find that she had disappeared. Looking at Raven he saw his own confusion reflected in her eyes. Another growl snapped the bird-kids out of their shock, and they bolted towards the door.

_Thank you… _Dylan said silently to the mysterious woman.

The desert was smothering hot, but at the moment, Dylan didn't care. The Erasers were right behind him and would be upon him in seconds.

Before them, a huge wire fence surrounded the building and had barbed wire, telling outsiders to back off, but this hardly mattered to two kids with wings.

Raven unfurled her wings and launched herself into the sky. Dylan followed suit and then stopped.

He stayed like that for a moment, wings out, mouth open.

Raven noticed that her companion was no longer at her side and hovered a few feet above his head.

"Dylan!" she yelled down. "We have to leave now!"

The Erasers were getting closer, but Dylan couldn't hear them. He only saw the sky. His initial fear of flying resurfaced and crashed down on him, making him stumble back. The arena was one thing, the entire sky was another. The arena only allowed him to get up 100 feet or so off the ground, outside the sky looked huge and threatening. In the distance, the boom of thunder did not help his fear.

"Dylan! Dylan!" someone called, but the boy didn't really register the name.

Something flashed in front of the bird-kid's eyes, and he winced at the suddenness of it. Then he saw them. They were staring straight back at him, pleading, calling. They weren't Raven's purple eyes. They were stormy gray. They were hard and soft at the same time, foreign yet familiar…

Dylan snapped back and raised his wings. Raven smiled and reached a hand towards him. He thrust himself upwards and grabbed her hand.

Below him, the Erasers howled their frustration as they realized they had come too late.

Smiling, both bird-kids flew away at break-neck speed, leaving the school to fade away in the desert.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, so who was that woman? Any guesses? I really doubt any of you will be able to guess correctly, but I'd like to see you all try. **

**So my friend was asking me a few questions and I thought I would just answer them for you. They're nothing big, but just little details if you're interested in the characters.**

**(1) Raven's eyes are purple, but they were originally dark brown. The purple color is a cause of the eel DNA and mutations.**

**(2) Raven obviously had raven or crow DNA (black feathers) and Percy most likely has skua DNA (varying colors of grey). A skua is a seabird with grey or brown feathers with white thrown in there (look it up! Wikipedia has a nice pic of it).**

**~Bluesky21543**


	13. Chapter 13: Free

**Chapter 13 – Free**

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><p>Dylan wasn't sure how far 100 meters was and he had no way to measure it. So both bird-kids kept their eyes peeled on the ground, going as straight as possible.<p>

Eventually, to their huge relief, they found the car. It was nothing special, just an old black Jeep that didn't look like it could go very fast. What was special were all the things inside.

Dylan did not have much time to analyze all the stuff, but he saw water, food, and medical supplies, which was good enough for him.

In the back of his tired mind, Dylan sent another prayer of thanks to the mysterious woman.

"Do you know how to drive?" he asked absent-mindedly.

Raven gave him a scathing look, and he ducked his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I'll drive."

He didn't know where he had learned to drive, but Dylan was glad he did. Raven sat on the passenger's side, staring straight ahead and completely tense

Dylan understood; they were out, but not safe, not yet.

"Any ideas about where to go?" he asked. He clutched the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. He was aimlessly driving; he didn't know where, but he just wanted to get _away._

His question seemed to snap Raven out of whatever trance she was in. She opened the glove compartment, and Dylan heard her give a soft grunt of approval, which he guessed meant she found something good.

"Stop for a moment," Raven said.

Dylan slowed the Jeep to a stop, letting the engine idle. For the first time, Dylan was allowed a moment to breathe. He tried to still his rapid heartbeat (not much success there) and forced himself to take in his surroundings. It was late evening, and the remnants of the sun's rays were slowing disappearing over the horizon. All around him, parched earth stretched out for miles on all sides of him. The only thing he knew about this desert was what lay behind him, and he was definitely _not_ going back there again.

Looking towards Raven, he saw that she had found a map and compass. He was about to speak, but then noticed she was in deep thought, so he stayed quiet.

Raven finally spoke up. "Okay drive that way," she said, pointing slightly towards the right. "The plan is to go towards this river called the Amargosa and ditch the car there."

"Ditch the car?" the boy asked incredulously. "Why?"

"There might be a tracking device on this," Raven stated matter-a-factually.

"Oh," Dylan said, seeing the logic. "You don't think we can trust the woman?"

Raven hesitated. "I don't trust anybody besides you; you know that. And besides that point, the smell of gas will be easy for the Erasers to follow and we could probably fly faster than this hunk of metal anyways."

Dylan nodded, glad that Raven was here to make the plans. Right now his head still hurt from whatever he did to the doors.

"And once we get to the river?" he asked.

"We take a dip," Raven said. "Hopefully, the water will further disguise our scents, and then we can head for the nearest town, and gather whatever supplies we need."

"By saying 'gathering supplies,' I assume you mean steal," Dylan said.

Raven shrugged. "Whatever it takes. I think the people of America can afford to lose a bit of food here and there for a couple of poor bird-kids who suffered experimentation and crazy scientist, don't you?"

Dylan grunted and started the car again, going in the direction Raven pointed out.

They were silent for a while before Raven spoke up again.

"Dylan?" she murmured. "What was that? The thing with the door and stuff? How'd you…?"

The bird-kid shook his head, eyes still on the desert before him. "I honestly don't know. The only way I can describe it, is that there was something connected to the door that was calling out to me, and I just kind of reached back, and it responded…" he trailed off.

His head throbbed again. For some reason, his body felt drained, but he forced himself to not lose focus. Losing control of a car in a desert with Erasers after your blood was a bad idea no matter how you looked at it.

"Take a look at the supplies," he suggested. "There might be something to patch up that nasty wound of yours."

He was obviously changing the subject, but Raven didn't seem to mind.

She twisted in her seat to reach back. A faint hiss that escaped her lips betrayed that the adrenaline had worn off and the deep injury at her side had stiffened in their brief car ride.

Dylan heard the sizzling sound as peroxide met the raw flesh, but Raven didn't utter any protest as she quickly worked to bandage her torso.

When they finally reached the river, the sky was completely dark except for the faint light of the moon and large expanse of stars overhead. Dylan parked, and they both got out.

"Okay. We'll take our dip, gather the supplies from the car, hide the car, and then head towards the closest city," Raven informed him.

Dylan nodded only half listening. The Amargosa River was a small thing as you would expect a desert river to be, but Dylan had the same feeling he did when he was around the doors at the School. For some reason the splashing and gurgling of the river was calling out to him.

He led the way down to the river, and immediately immersed himself. It was shallow so Dylan had to bend down to let the river's water wash over all of him. It energized him and seemed to take away all the aches and pains his body had suffered in the arena.

Reluctantly, he climbed out and walked up to Raven.

Raven was dripping wet, but he guessed the eel DNA was helping her dry because the water seemed to slip easily off her body.

"Okay," she said turning around. "Now we—"

His friend's eyes widened when she saw him in the fading light and she gaped.

Dylan was confused. What was going on?

"Dylan?" she asked in a perplexed tone. "How are you dry and what happened to your…"

Dylan looked down at himself in surprised. For some reason, he hadn't noticed that he had come out of the river perfectly dry, and while he was observing himself, he noticed something else.

He gasped. All his wounds were gone. The healing feeling in the river wasn't just a feeling; it had actually swept away any trace of injury from his body.

Dylan looked at Raven's shocked gaze, then back at his own body. Raven still had cuts and bruises littering her body; the wound in her side had yet to stop bleeding, but she must have been ignoring the pain momentarily in her shock.

His body, in heavy contrast, was perfectly healthy.

"I—I don't know," he started to say. "I—I think the water from the river healed me."

He sat down hard. This was just crazy. First the weird feelings from the door. Now this? Dylan felt like he should have known the answer, but as always the mental wall stood in his way.

"Water," Raven muttered.

"What?" Dylan inquired.

"Water," she repeated, a little louder this time. "I remember something. You said something really weird on like the first or second day I met you."

"I did?" Dylan asked, not sure where she was going with this.

"Yeah, it was the day before your…" her words wandered off for a second. Dylan knew what she didn't say. The day before his operation. The day before he got his wings and lost his memory.

"What did I say?" he prompted.

"You wanted to know how the doors worked. You asked if they were controlled by hydraulic systems. I told you that I thought they were, and then you got really thoughtful," she explained.

"Hydraulic systems?" he echoed. "Water…"

"Yeah," Raven continued. "Dylan, I think you can control water. And you were able to do that before you came to the School."

More than ever, Dylan wished he could remember his past. He wanted answers, but his life at the moment seemed to enjoy his confusion of not knowing.

Raven's theory made sense though. If he could really control water, it would explain why he could open the doors, why he had healed, why he had come out dry…

Raven eventually joined him on the ground; her movements were slow and deliberate, showing that her myriad of wounds were started to seriously bother her.

Dylan felt slightly guilty as his gaze fell upon the many ugly claw and teeth marks that the Erasers had left on her body. Here he was completely fine, while his friend would have to suffer a good few weeks in order to recover.

The bird-kid was just about to let the guilt sink in deeper when Raven's next words completely banished them.

"I have to say, that's pretty cool," she said lightly as if talking about a new toy instead of freakish powers.

"Cool?" he repeated, disbelief evident in his voice. "They make me a freak."

Dylan had been staring straight ahead so he hadn't even seen the hand that connected with his head.

"Hey!" he protested, rubbing the new sore spot where Raven slapped him gently, but with enough authority to get her point across.

"Don't use that word to describe yourself," the response came with a slight growl attached to the end.

Dylan realized what he had just said and understood why Raven had been so quick in hitting him. "Freak" had been a favorite Eraser insult. Raven had made it very clear in the past that she didn't like that insult coming from the Erasers, and just because he was her friend didn't mean she would like it any better coming from him even if it was directed at himself.

"Besides," the girl continued, "We both got wings and I can generate my own electricity. We'll be weird together."

Dylan was just about to point out that apparently he was "weird" _before_ he came to the School (even though he didn't remember it), but Raven's tone did not leave much room for arguments and he really didn't feel like getting hit again, so he left it at that.

The two bird-kids sat there for a moment, contemplating their conversation and the events that had transpired.

"Dylan," Raven called out suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"I just realized something."

"What?"

Raven turned to look at him, and he saw a wild, exuberant look in her eyes.

"We're free," she whispered.

Dylan stared at her dumbly for a second, and then realized between fighting for his life, escaping the School, and discovering he had weird, freaky powers, he had never once had let it cross his mind that they were free.

They sat in silence again, staring at each other. Their breathing became rapid and uncontrolled. A warm, light feeling spread throughout their entire body.

Dylan broke the silence first with a laugh as if he was mocking the School that he had left behind. He continued with it, not caring how crazy it made him sound.

Raven's normally scowling face broke into a grin, and she gave an uncharacteristic squeal as she threw herself at her friend to embrace him tightly.

They both tumbled backwards and lay there laughing at the sky.

They were free.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! They're finally out. I'm so happy. But this is only the beginning. Percy still has to find his way home… The next chapter the real adventure begins! WooHoo<strong>

**The Amargosa River is a real river in Death Valley. I was actually surprised that Death Valley had any body of water, but hey, it works out for my story so I'm not complaining.**

**If you don't know what a hydraulic system is, you obviously are not past middle school science or did not pay very good attention in class. Basically, all you need to know is that a hydraulic system is a mechanism that uses water to control certain mechanical objects like the brakes in a car. If you still don't understand, use the internet to help you out, because I'm not explaining middle school science to you.**

**See ya next time!**

**~Bluesky21543**


	14. Chapter 14: An Average Day of a Bird-Kid

**Okay, imagine that the last fifteen chapters were like a super-duper long prologue and the story is finally starting. I know crazy right? But for this story, we have now skipped about one year into the future. If you want a sort of timeline, here it is.**

**The summer before Percy's capture, was the end of the Titan War (from Rick Riordan's books). The summer after the war about mid-June (that's when I end school, so I'm guessing the East coast is the same), Percy is captured. He stays about one month in the School and then escapes with Raven about mid-or-late-July. We have now skipped forwards a year to about early August, just before school starts. So there you have it.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 14 – The Average Life of your Average Bird-Kid<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>(One year later)<strong>

Raven stared at the sky, trying to judge the exact time it was, but after a few minutes, the girl gave up and made a mental note to steal a watch or something the next chance she had.

Sighing, Raven idly stretched out her wings so that they were more comfortable.

What were a few more minutes? The boy needed his rest anyways. They had had a rough week.

Erasers had attacked them nearly a week ago, and since then, Raven and her friend had been running, well flying actually, non-stop. If Raven had read the sign right, they were now in the northern part of California.

_Ugh, California, _Raven thought distastefully.

For about a year now, the two of them had been running… flying… whatever, to get away from Erasers. Their escape had been the greatest day of Raven's short, pathetic life, but it had only led to another prison. So far, Raven and her companion had traveled all over California and the surrounding states. They hadn't gotten any farther than that because the Erasers continued to pursue and herd them away from the East. And now, here they were, back in the same state where they had begun in.

They had traded a life of trapped existence for a life of running, lack of food, and constant danger. It wasn't much of a life. In fact, it sucked so much that on the really bad days, Raven wanted to roll over and die, but as soon as a though like that would come up, she would viciously shut it out; she would never let any Eraser touch her again. And no matter how bad this new life was, she would choose it over the School in a heartbeat.

And plus, it wasn't all bad. On the few rare days that they managed to shake off the Erasers, the two bird-kids found some way to enjoy themselves. Two teenage runaways could be pretty creative when it came to amusing themselves. Raven wouldn't trade those times for the world.

Raven looked back at the still nameless boy. They had not found a name for him yet, so Raven kept making up names for him, but name or no name, he was the best thing that had happened to her since she had been abducting six years ago. And she wasn't just saying that because he had helped her escape.

They were each other's lifelines. When one was hurt or depressed the other would be there to pick that person back up. Without each other, they would have died a long time ago, or worse (yes, there were worse things than death, namely the School).

_I guess it's time to wake him up, _Raven thought with a tinge of regret. She hated to have to break that peaceful look on her friend's face.

Raven paused briefly going through her mental list until she picked new name for the day.

"Good morning, camper," Raven called in a high-pitched annoying voice. "Time to wake up!"

The boy moaned and rolled over.

"Get up, Luke," Raven said a little more forcefully, using the name she had just picked a few seconds ago. "Move you lazy butt. I've been up for hours, so it's time for you to get up too."

The boy groaned again, but sat up this time. He blinked away the dazed look, and was instantly awake. Constantly running forced you to create strange habits like waking up at a moments notice.

The teen looked at Raven and said, "Not Luke."

Raven blinked, surprised. The "name game" (as Raven so cleverly called it) began when Raven thought of a new name for him and they kept it until the boy or Raven declared they didn't like it. The objective was to see how long they could keep one name. Today, Raven had apparently failed miserably.

"Wow," Raven said, deflating quickly when the new name was shot down. "Usually it takes you _at least_ a few days before you say you don't like the name. Why not Luke?"

The boy shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't like that one. Pick another one."

Raven huffed slightly before saying, "How 'bout Bradley?"

"Can't," the teen countered, smiling at Raven's small pout. "You used that one a few months ago."

"Well, sorry I don't remember all the names I've called you in the past year," Raven snapped back. She paused. Then finally spoke up in a voice that left little room for argument, "You're Josh."

The newly dubbed "Josh" shrugged and let out a small laugh.

Raven smiled. She couldn't help it.

"Wait, good morning?" the Josh, gesturing to the already dark sky and referring to her earlier wake up call.

Raven shrugged. "Good morning, good night, same thing," she muttered. The two bird-kids had made it a habit to sleep during the day and fly at night when no one would see and question two flying kids.

After a few moments of teasing each other, Raven made a move to stand up, but then stiffened. Something tingled in the back of her mind.

Josh noticed Raven's sudden tension. "What is it? Erasers?" he whispered.

Raven shook her head no and whispered back, "The others."

To their left, a loud crashing noise could suddenly be heard. The bushes parted to reveal a huge black dog. The two bird kids stared at it in slight apprehension; this dog could easily eat two bird-kids and happily go back for seconds, maybe thirds.

Its body took up as much room as a truck, the blood red eyes gazed hungrily down at the two frozen teens, and he (or she; it was hard to tell from this angle) snarled at them just to show off the pointed canines.

"Crap," was all Raven could mutter as she got into a fighting stance.

Did Raven forget to mention that along with the running, the shortage of food, and Erasers trying to rip them to shreds, these strange monsters kept popping up where ever they went? Yep, as their luck goes, they attracted them like a plague.

Welcome to the life of your average bird-kid freak.

* * *

><p>Josh took one look at the monster-dog in front of him and slipped his pen out of his pocket. He uncapped it so that it grew into the "large, freaky, magic sword" (as Raven had so eloquently called it). Personally, Josh preferred the name Riptide. He didn't know where the name came from, but it seemed to fit.<p>

A few weeks after their escape from the School, their first monster had attacked Josh and Raven. It was during that fight that Josh had rediscovered the pen in his pocket and instinctively uncapped it. When the cap came off, Josh found himself holding a large, bronze sword. The sword had at first freaked both him and Raven out, but after the initial shock had subsided, they had found it quite useful in monster fighting.

In front of him, the monster-dog eyed the gleaming metal, but unfortunately it didn't take the hint and slowly advanced forward.

Josh knew that all the monsters they had encountered since they left the School were related in some way because Raven said the energy surrounding them all felt the same despite their different appearances. Because of her abilities to control electricity, Raven could sense and tell apart different electric fields when close enough. Also whenever they succeeded in killing one, they all curiously exploded into a strange gold dust.

Both bird-kids watched the monster-dog come completely out of the undergrowth. The daylight had completely vanished, but with their battle-hardened lives, that fact would hardly slow the two teens down. Unfortunately, the lack of light did not seem to hinder the dog either.

"Can't you guys just leave us alone?" Raven spat.

The bird-kids could have easily flown away, but they had learned quite early on that these strange monsters were quite persistent in tracking their prey. Better to kill them now and get it over with.

The monster-dog took a step forward with a snarl.

Raven, not wanting to be outdone, also took a step forward and let out a vicious growl.

Sometimes, Josh didn't know if Raven was insanely brave, seriously ticked off, or just plain stupid in moments like these. What he did know was that her feral act was definitely not helping their situation, but then again, she was Raven, and telling her to back off would gain him nothing, especially in the heat of a battle.

Obviously, the monster-dog took offense to the bird-kid's returning fury, so it did the most natural thing and charged with a blood-curdling howl.

Josh felt the hard-wired instincts and few weeks of training at the School kick in, and easily jumped to one side as the black wall of fur stampeded past him.

When he landed again, he took note that Raven had already launched herself into the air, her hands sparking with electricity.

This was how they normally fought. Raven in the air; Josh firmly planted on the ground.

Josh preferred fighting on the ground, only using his wings when absolutely necessary. It worked out well anyways. The enemy would have to watch all sides. Focusing on just one bird-kid would lead to a serious slashing from the other.

Unfortunately for the dog, this didn't register in his one-track mind as he whirled around and instantly charged at Josh again.

Josh grinned. This was too easy. He lowered his weapon and let his previous smile slip into a bored expression as if the charging monster was merely doing some old trick instead of trying to rip his head from his shoulders.

Infuriated even more, the dog increased its speed and ran headlong into a blast of electricity.

Surprised, the dog reared back, yelping as the electricity stung his face and burned his disgusting, matted fur.

Josh took the distraction to raise his weapon and deliver the final blow. The dog didn't even have time to yelp again as it instantly exploded into the golden dust the weird monsters always disintegrated into.

Sighing, Josh recapped his sword so that it shrank back into a pen and pocketed it.

"Good job," Raven said as she landed.

"You too," he replied, although his voice betrayed how tired he was of the constant fighting his confusing life insisted on retaining.

They walked back to their small campsite and began to gather their things.

"We're running low on supplies," Raven stated, her eyes scrutinizing their few belongings. "Do you want to fly or walk to the nearest town?"

Josh didn't even know why Raven always asked his opinion about that when she already knew his answer. "Walk," he grunted, pulling on a black jacket he had nabbed from an unattended laundry mat. The jacket fell over his wings and easily hid them from view.

He turned around and saw that Raven was scowling at his answer. He chuckled. Raven always preferred flying since she thought it was faster and she liked the feeling of the wind in her face. Josh, in stark comparison, pushed to walk whenever possible. One year of flying and he was still uncomfortable about launching into the air.

"Fine," she said. "But for the record, I still think it's weird that after all this time, you're still afraid of heights."

"I'm not afraid of heights," he reminded her for the thousandth time.

"Sure," she said, pulling on her own jacket.

Raven was just about to reach for their things when a sound made her freeze. Several howls pierced the peaceful morning. They called to one another in the night.

Raven and Josh glanced at one another.

Raven's eyes burned and she snarled, "He had friends."

* * *

><p>His life could never be easy. It was a constant struggle each and everyday to live, whether that struggle is fighting monsters and Erasers or trying to get food to eat. Right now, the struggle consisted of a whole pack of monster-dogs.<p>

Yep, on days like this, his life just plain sucked.

The bird-kids had been caught off guard when the pack charged into their clearing. They had appeared too fast for Raven get a fair warning via her powers, so as of right now, Josh was separated from his companion and using Riptide to hack through the mass of fur in an attempt to find her.

"Back OFF you mangy mutts!" a voice yelled to his left.

Raven was pretty easy to find in a fight.

If her angry voice didn't alert you, the flashes of electricity did.

Josh began to make his way towards the voice until he saw his fellow bird-kid who was currently zapping a monster-dog back a few feet.

Raven caught sight of Josh and yelled, "Come to join the party?"

Josh grinned at her and raised his weapon as his response. The bird-kids fought back-to-back keeping the angry monster-dogs at bay. They were easy enough to fight since they were obviously not very bright, but the sheer number of them was beginning to overwhelm them. Josh was just about to suggest that they take off their jackets and make their flying get-away when—

_Whoosh. Thud._

The monster-dog right in front of him made a strangled cry as an arrow seemed to appear out of nowhere and lodge painfully in his neck. The monster-dog collapsed, convulsed a few times, and finally disintegrated into gold dust.

Josh stared at the bronze-tipped arrow.

_Whoosh. Whoosh._

The air was suddenly alive with arrows as rained down on the enemy.

Josh and Raven took a step back in shock as three teens appeared from their right. One had a bow and was loosing arrows in rapid succession. The other two held old-fashion weapon and they both charged into the pack of monster-dogs.

Both bird-kids watched as the three strangers charged the pack.

The monster-dogs took an interest in the newcomers and left the two stunned bird-kids alone.

Josh was about to join the fight when he noticed that they three teens seemed to be doing well on their own. The pack of monster-dogs had now lessened to about five, and they didn't last long.

Thinking quickly, Josh capped Riptide, not wanting to bring unnecessary attention to himself.

Before he knew it, Josh saw the army of monster-dogs completely succumb to the strangers' weapons.

The three teens finished the last monster-dog and talked among themselves. They glanced at Josh and Raven and then approached the two bird-kids.

"Are you all right?" a male voice asked them.

Josh noticed a shadow behind them and shouted, "Look out!"

All three whirled around weapons raised, but then relaxed.

"Don't worry," a female voice said. "Mrs. O'Leary is with us."

Josh looked back at the panting shadow and wondered briefly who would name their dog Mrs. O'Leary.

The monster-dog suddenly barked, shaking the ground, and lunged for Josh.

This startled the three kids, and one of them, an pale teen, caught the dog's collar.

"No," the boy said sharply. "Down, Mrs. O'Leary. They don't want to play."

The monster-dog whimpered and struggled against the boy's hold, but the boy must have been a lot stronger than he looked because eventually he was able to get the dog to sit, although she still glanced sorrowful at Josh.

"Hey, David," pale teen said to the other boy in the group. "Can you get us some light?"

The person named David said something Josh couldn't hear and started rummaging in his backpack.

"So…" Raven finally spoke up. "Thanks and all for the help. You really saved us back there, but, um, we need to get going. Our parents are probably worried about us hiking so late."

Josh knew why Raven wanted to leave so badly. She was bad with people. Years of being at the School had made her pretty antisocial, so she was eager to leave and not get involved with complete strangers.

"Yeah," he went along with the lie. "We're probably going to get in big trouble for staying out so late."

Raven and Josh turned to leave, and at that moment, David had finally found a lantern or something and immediately, its light illuminated the small clearing.

Josh winced at the sudden light. He heard three consecutive gasps. He blinked back at their gaping mouths in confusion. Did he really look that bad right now? Did he get more beat up then he felt?

He shrugged and started to turn away. "Thanks again."

A hand caught his own before he could begin walking away, and the soft voice that followed made his pause.

"Percy?"

* * *

><p><strong>~Bluesky21543<strong>


	15. Chapter 15: Year Perspective of Another

**Chapter 15: One Year's Perspective from Another**

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><p>The blonde demigod scanned the perimeter of their camp, her grey eyes piercing the shadows. Her ears were alert at the moment for anything out of the ordinary, but all she could hear was the sound of her companions sleeping and the muffled snores of a hellhound.<p>

Annabeth sighed. She wondered why she had volunteered to take the first watch when she was so tired. Then she remembered that she had been having nightmares for the last few nights. Echoes of her dreams made her shiver slightly. She really didn't want to close her eyes and see them again.

She actually didn't remember much of the dreams except there was a wall. It stood high and proud over Annabeth's head and seemed to threaten the demigod with its immensity. When she laid her hand upon its smooth surface, pain shot through her entire being. Her screams would fill the air and she would wake up. The daughter of Athena was not sure what the wall was or what was behind it, but she _knew_ that she needed to get through; something just beyond that barrier was waiting, calling for her. (1)

As if the wall wasn't frustrating enough, Annabeth knew that there were other parts to her dream. Voices? Faces? She didn't remember, but when she tried to recall the images, the demigod had a vague sense of dread and excitement.

The fire crackled, and the demigod poked it to coax some warmth out of it. It wasn't especially cold tonight, but the memories that the dreams brought up made the air seem colder and more foreboding.

She looked at her other two companions—Nico di Angelo and David Allen. They had been sent on a short, easy assignment together and had been forced to suffer each other's company for the past few days.

Looking at her sleeping companions, Annabeth really didn't know why there needed to be a full mission at all for something so trifle.

About a week or two ago, Grover had sent in a report about a pack of hellhounds rampaging through California. It wasn't much to be alarmed about. The only odd thing was that it was a pack. Hellhounds normally travelled solo unless a master forced them together. The report hadn't even been a cry for help, just a simple feedback about how the wild was holding up.

Things like that would normally be passed over, but for some reason, Drew, the counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, insisted that they help Grover with the hellhound problem.

Annabeth was surprised that Drew of all people would suggest this. The daughter of Aphrodite was not a very caring person; in fact, she was the most self-centered person Annabeth had ever known. Drew didn't even like Grover (she always referred to him with the demeaning name of "goat-boy").

But for some reason beyond Annabeth's comprehension (and that was a pretty big accomplishment), Drew had convinced the others to send out a small team to California. Annabeth was sure Drew had cheated and used her charmspeaking abilities.

So here she was in some woods of northern California. She had been chosen because she lived California and might know something about the area (she had rejected the mission saying that she didn't know California that well, but it had been no use; no one else wanted to take the mission). Nico (who had also rejected the mission) had been chosen because of his familiarity with hellhounds and also because he was one of the few people Mrs. O'Leary, their own hellhound, listened to. And then there was David, a son of Apollo, who had been chosen because of his skill with the bow… and because no one else volunteered.

So far it had been uneventful, and in Annabeth's opinion, a waste of time. They had finally tracked down the hellhounds, which wasn't so hard since they left a huge mess wherever they went, and would soon be able to get rid of the problem and go home.

Annabeth hated being out in some unknown woods of California. She didn't mind the company of Nico and David that much; they were all pretty good friends, but all three made their reluctance on this mission pretty clear and it made the whole thing pretty miserable as they trekked listlessly through the wilderness. Also, memories sprang up unbidden as she spent more time with the two boys. Being out camping in the wild reminded Annabeth of her first quest. No matter what she did, she could not smother the memories that would eventually lead to him.

Annabeth sighed in slight defeat as she allowed her thoughts to turn to him.

Percy.

It had been over a year since that summer date turned wrong. After she had woken up, she had found both the man and her boyfriend gone.

The camp had been in an uproar after that. Search parties looked everywhere, notices to spirits and allies were sent out, and everyone who had a connection to Olympus's Hero was told to look for him. Annabeth had even gone to some gods in order to find some information, but even they were baffled about the demigod's whereabouts.

Rachel, the camps oracle, was distraught, wondering why her visions revealed nothing. She said when it came to Percy everything was clouded over like she had a bad connection.

Hope had arisen a few days after his capture when Grover said the empathy link was intact. He was able to reach him for one night, but it had been cut short. Grover had woken up shaken and bleated that Percy was in some horrible place, but other than that nothing more had come from the empathy link. A few days later, Grover announced that the empathy link was gone. When asked if that meant Percy was dead, he had just shaken his head in confusion and said he didn't know.

Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades, had kept them updated on his visits from the underworld, and he reported never seeing Percy's ghost. That had given Annabeth hope, but Nico was only the son of Hades, not the Lord of the Dead himself, so he couldn't keep track of all the dead.

Somehow, Annabeth's friend Thalia had convinced the goddess Artemis to allow the Hunters some time to organize their own search. Artemis had reluctantly agreed since Percy was a boy. With her goddess's hesitant blessing, Thalia led the Handmaidens of Artemis in an extensive hunt that covered nearly all of the United States. But as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, Artemis recalled her Hunters back and the search had ended without a single breakthrough.

Now, one year later, Annabeth had fallen into despair about ever seeing her boyfriend again.

Annabeth reached underneath her shirt and pulled out two necklaces. One was hers; the other had belonged to the missing demigod. Normally, Percy would have never have taken it off, but their date had been a somewhat formal one, so he had left it at home for the night.

Mrs. Jackson had given it to Annabeth a few weeks after Percy's disappearance in hopes that Annabeth could give it to Percy when she found him again. The grey-eyed demigod hadn't taken it off since.

Annabeth jerked her head back when a howl cut through her thoughts. She cursed at herself for not being more vigilant. Her companions were up in a few seconds.

Nico walked over to Mrs. O'Leary.

"Which way girl?" he asked quietly to the hellhound.

Mrs. O'Leary bounded up and started to go in the direction of the howl, making sure to keep her pace slow for the demigods to follow.

The demigods only brought only their weapons. They traveled swiftly and silently, not wanting to alert the pack they were hunting.

"They're close," Nico muttered next to Annabeth.

Annabeth looked back and nodded in approval to see that David already had an arrow knocked on his bow.

"Nico," Annabeth whispered. "Tell Mrs. O'Leary to stay here. I don't think we'll need her help in defeating this pack, and she'll probably just get in the way."

The darkly dressed demigod nodded and commanded the hellhound to stay put.

Mrs. O'Leary gave a small snuffle and sat down heavily, squashing a few small trees.

Annabeth motioned for her group to follow her, and they made their way through the undergrowth.

As they neared the pack, Annabeth was surprised to hear sounds of a battle. Hellhounds were, of course, howling, but mixed into the hellhound's cries, Annabeth could make yells that were definitely human.

Exchanging looks, the group began to run, disregarding their previous stealth, and in a few moments, they broke into a clearing.

In the dark, Annabeth couldn't tell one hellhound from the other. To her eyes it just seemed like a huge mass of dark, coarse fur. Annabeth couldn't see the humans yet, but she could definitely hear them.

Suddenly, two human shapes could be seen. In the dark, it was hard to tell any specific details, but they seemed to be putting up a good fight. Annabeth watched a second longer and knew that despite their skill in fighting, the numbers and sizes of the hellhounds would overwhelm them.

"David" Annabeth yelled.

The archer nodded and let loose his arrow. As soon as it left his bow, he had another ready to be fired.

Annabeth drew her dagger, and she heard Nico bring out his own sword.

They nodded and then charged into the battle.

The hellhounds instantly turned around, ready to meet their new adversaries. Annabeth was sure that their demigod auras were drawing the hellhounds to them, which was fine with Annabeth since it meant the two humans would be out of danger.

The battle was short and easy. Hellhounds with no master were just a bunch of stupid, overgrown animals, and compared to a certain battle in the streets of New York City, this was mere child's play.

Annabeth and Nico made quick work of the hellhounds. The hellhound's wild, disorganized formation made it easier for the demigods to cut down the large beasts. David stood back and let his arrows pick off any who tried to escape.

Finally, Annabeth watched as the last hellhound dissolved into gold dust.

She bent down to the earth to wipe away the hellhound blood off her dagger, wondering yet again why they had been sent on such a useless mission. Her breathing was completely normal and unaffected by the fight. The only sign that she had been in a scuffle was the slight buzz of adrenaline in her head, but other than that she might as well had taken a leisurely walk in the woods instead of a fight against an army of hellhounds.

"Is everyone all right?" Annabeth asked.

There was two "yeses" and Annabeth nodded with relief, glad that no one had gotten hurt in such an easy outing.

She looked at the two teens that were undoubtedly wondering who they were. She was curious about the two teens. Were they demigods? She couldn't tell. If Grover were here, he would have been able to identify them easily.

"I guess we should go talk to them," Nico said in his monotone voice, nodding at the two people.

Annabeth voiced her agreement, and the trio made their way over to them.

"Are you all right?" Nico asked.

Closer, Annabeth still couldn't see much of the two people except one was a girl and the other was a boy; both were pretty tall and well muscled.

Before they could fully reach the duo, both of the kids stiffened suddenly, and the boy yelled, "Look out!"

All three demigods whirled around, weapons out in a flash, but when they saw who it was, they all relaxed.

Annabeth laughed silently at the boy's fear and turned back to them. "Don't worry," she said. "Mrs. O'Leary is with us."

Then something surprised her. She hear Mrs. O'Leary give a happy bark, and when she turned around, she saw that Nico was trying to get the hellhound to sit, which wasn't an easy task, but he somehow managed it.

Annabeth stared at Mrs. O'Leary in confusion. She didn't know why Mrs. O'Leary was acting like that. The friendly hellhound wasn't one to normally jump on strangers; Daedalus, her first owner, had trained her pretty well not to do that.

"Hey, David," Nico called out. "Can you get us some light?"

"Sure, man," David responded, dropping his pack to the ground to search for something.

"So…" the unknown girl spoke up. "Thanks and all for the help. You really saved us back there, but, um, we need to get going. Our parents are probably worried about us hiking so late."

"Yeah," the boy said. "We're probably going to get in big trouble for staying out so late."

Annabeth turned back to the two teens in confusion. She had expected questions about the hellhounds and themselves, not an excuse to leave suddenly.

The two kids began to turn around to leave, and Annabeth was about to call them back to ask if they were demigods when David gave a soft exclamation as he pulled out a lantern and turned it on.

The lantern threw light all around the clearing and illuminated the two faces of the teens who winced at the sudden light.

Annabeth felt like she had been slapped in the face and she gasped. Vaguely, she heard her companions mimic her action, but she wasn't really paying attention to them at the moment.

In front of them, looking at them in confusion was the boy she had been looking for, for the past year. The boy she had nearly given up all hope on. The boy whose necklace seemed to be burning against her skin at the moment.

Percy Jackson.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: One more personal note, I have already said that this is not a PercyxRaven story, so I suppose I can make all you Percabeth fans happy. You will most likely see some of that romance in the future… if Percy gets his memories back that is…**

**(1) The wall is the similar to the wall that Percy sees inside his mind, the one blocking his memories.**

**If any of you are interested in Bleach, I have another fanfic called "Familiar Faces." If you don't like Bleach or don't know what it is, ignore this.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	16. Chapter 16: Ghosts and Surprises

**Chapter 16 - Ghosts and Surprises**

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><p>Nico stared, stunned at the sight in front of him. He was seeing a ghost. He had to be. But it wasn't. Even in the darkness, Nico could tell that the boy in front of him was flesh and bone.<p>

Annabeth gasped beside him, and he reached out to steady her, but she didn't seem to notice or care. At the moment, she was completely focused on the boy in front of them.

Looking back again, Nico was completely certain of who the boy was. There was no doubt about it. It was one of the few people Nico could actually call his friend—Percy Jackson, the boy who had mysteriously vanished a year ago.

Percy looked at them in confusion. Nico felt something was wrong. Something was off about the way Percy stared at them. Then he realized it. Percy's gaze held no recognition, no joy of reunion. His gaze mimicked one someone would have when meeting a stranger for the first time.

Speechless, Nico watched as Percy shrugged and began to turn to follow his companion. "Thanks again," he called over his shoulder.

In a flash, Nico felt Annabeth leave his hand, and appear again at Percy's side. She grabbed his hand without hesitation.

"Percy?" she asked, her voice soft and barely in control.

Nico had never heard Annabeth sound like that before. She sounded like she would break any moment, and Percy's next actions might have done just that.

He wiggled his hand out of her grasp, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Um, thanks," he repeated. Then, before anyone else could move, Percy took off jogging, bent down to pick up a pack, and disappeared into the woods with his companion.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed after a few seconds of shocked silence.

Nico felt numb. That couldn't have been Percy, yet every one of his senses told him other wise. The voice, the dark hair, the sea-green eyes… everything pointed to the boy being Percy, yet he had looked at them and acted towards like strangers. What's more, he had shaken off Annabeth like she was a bothersome child. The Percy he knew would _never_ do something like that.

Obviously Annabeth agreed with all of Nico's deductions, and she ran to the edge of the woods where he had disappeared, calling out his name. But no green-eyed demigod reappeared.

Annabeth was ready to charge into the woods, but Nico caught her arm.

The distraught demigod whirled around to look at Nico.

"Let me go!" she yelled, struggling to free herself from Nico. "Didn't you see? That was Percy!"

Instead of losing his grip on the thrashing girl, Nico tightened it. Annabeth was starting to get frantic, so he would have to speak fast before she hurt him.

"I know that was Percy, but stop and think, Annabeth," Nico said, keeping his voice calm and steady despite the swirling emotions he was feeling. "He obviously didn't recognize us, and based on that lie he and the girl told, they're hiding something; knowing Percy, he's probably running from something. If we go after him now, in the dark, we'll seem like enemies." He used his free hand to gesture at the night sky; being the son of Hades, Nico was very aware that people naturally distrusted things that came from the dark.

Understanding flickered in her eyes, and Nico saw intelligence replace the earlier hysteria the daughter of Athena was close to.

"So what do you suggest?" Annabeth asked, tiredly.

Nico glanced at the older girl in slight surprise. During the mission, she had been the one calling all the shots and making the plans, but he guessed the abrupt and rather disappointing reunion had left her drained.

"We wait for morning," he said, finally letting go of her when he was sure she wouldn't bolt. "Then we'll have Mrs. O'Leary sniff him out. He can't get very far."

The trio and their dog headed back silently back to their camp. Even David, who had not known Percy all that well, had a depressed air around him.

When they reached their temporary set-up, Nico told David and Annabeth to sleep while he took the watch. David obeyed instantly, but Annabeth shook her head.

"You should sleep," Nico said, knowing that the girl hadn't been at her full strength during the whole mission.

Annabeth shook her head again. "After that," she said dully, "I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep."

Nico looked at the girl sadly.

He looked at the restless lump underneath the sleeping bag that was David and then at Mrs. O'Leary who was sitting bolt upright, staring into the darkness.

None of them were going to get any rest tonight.

* * *

><p>Nico's previous statement about Percy not getting very far had been proven wrong the very next day.<p>

It was already late afternoon and they still hadn't found their lost friend.

They walked in a tense silence the whole entire time. The only sound to be heard was their feet hitting the ground and the occasional snuffle from the hellhound in front of them.

Mrs. O'Leary had been eager to start their expedition, and when Nico had finally let her go, she had bounded in the direction of the clearing. Nico had to call her back several times, and eventually had to put her on a makeshift leash to reign in that boundless enthusiasm she had for finding her former master.

The three demigods, unfortunately, did not share the same energy as the dog. All of them were tired from little or no sleep. The long trudge through the woods did little to help their disposition.

Suddenly, Mrs. O'Leary barked and leapt forward, ripping the leash out of Nico's hand.

"Mrs. O'Leary!" he called out in exasperation. The three demigods took after the hellhound and stopped at the sight in front of them.

Mrs. O'Leary hadn't gotten very far and had stopped a few feet away for the very person they had been looking for.

Nico couldn't believe his eyes. There was Percy with a familiar blade pointed at his own dog.

The girl from the night before was beside Percy with her hands out in front of her. There was a strange sort of light dancing around her fingertips, which reminded Nico of electricity, but he couldn't be sure.

At the moment, the pale demigod was more concerned that Percy would hurt Mrs. O'Leary.

"No!" he shouted, halting any attack on the horribly confused hellhound.

The two teens turned around and then relaxed when the recognized the three demigods.

Percy lowered his sword, but unfortunately, Mrs. O'Leary took that as an invitation and leapt towards her former master with a happy bark.

Percy didn't have time to react and was promptly knocked over.

The unknown girl gave an angry cry, but before she could do anything, Nico appeared between her and the hellhound and began to try to pry Mrs. O'Leary off of Percy. Not an easy task.

"Down, Mrs. O'Leary," Nico yelled. Moving the hellhound was like trying to move a truck… without wheels. "Mrs. O'Leary, No!"

The trained part of Mrs. O'Leary eventually listened and she backed off halfheartedly.

"Sit," Nico commanded. Another command was reluctantly followed.

The girl moved to help Percy, but Annabeth reached him first.

"Percy!" she cried breathlessly, throwing her arms around him in an embrace.

Nico winced. This was all wrong, and Percy seemed to agree with that thought when he looked at Annabeth in confusion.

He slowly untangled himself from the girl and backed away.

"Do I know you?" the boy asked quietly.

The wind seemed to have stopped, and Mother Earth herself seemed to be holding her breath.

Nico felt the sky crash down on his shoulders when his assumptions had been confirmed in that one question.

Annabeth looked hurt and confused. David gave a small gasp, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Up until now, all three of them had hoped that last night had been a mistake, and Percy just couldn't tell who they were in the dark.

Nico opened his mouth to reply, but Annabeth beat him to it.

"It's me Percy. Annabeth…" she trailed off in a small choke, her eyes betraying all the pain that had welled up inside of her for the past year.

"What did you call me?" the boy spoke in a quiet voice that seemed so unlike the Percy Nico had known.

_He doesn't even know his own name! _the thought screamed in all three demigods' minds.

Annabeth broke after that and the words came tumbling out.

"Percy!" she almost yelled as if saying it louder would make him remember. "You're Percy Jackson! The idiotic demigod who went missing last year! You're the son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson. You led the fight against Kronos two summers ago. You're my—"

Annabeth stopped her rant abruptly, but Nico still heard the unspoken word "boyfriend" come off her lips.

"You're Percy," she whispered her ending, her eyes pleading with the boy to remember.

The teen took an unsteady step backwards, and then another. The second step had been a little too fast, and the boy tumbled to the ground, but he didn't even seem to notice as he stared at Annabeth in wide-eyed confusion. Belief and disbelief seemed to battle in those green eyes.

Nico didn't understand what happened next. He could easily reply the events over and over in his head, but he still couldn't comprehend them.

The stranger girl had called out to Percy. He whipped his head around to stare at her and said something like "I can't do this."

The next part seemed surreal as Percy ripped off his jacket. And something dark and large sprang from his back.

Percy was already a small dot in the sky when Nico finally realized the things on his back were wings.

* * *

><p>Nico's mind was numb with shock. He had expected a lot of things, but definitely not that.<p>

This couldn't be possible. Demigods had hard, strange lives, but Nico had never heard of one growing…

Wings.

Nico's mind suddenly flooded with questions and chaotic thought all in one moment. How the heck did Percy get wings? How was that even possible? What's more, Percy was the son of the _sea _god. Being a son of one of the Big Three, Nico fully understood that for him to go into one of the other two Big Three gods' domains would mean almost certain death. The same unspoken rule applied to Percy whether he was the Hero of Olympus or not.

Beside him, Nico heard the unknown girl mutter sarcastically, "Great, that went well."

The sound of the girl's voice snapped Annabeth out of her own shock.

"What was that?" Annabeth yelled, turning to glare at the girl. Hurt was momentarily replaced with anger.

Nico shared a look with David and both unanimously decided that they were going to stay out of the argument that was, without a doubt, going to ensue.

"What?" the girl asked. "You have never seen wings before?"

"Not on a human!" Annabeth shot back. "And definitely not on Percy!"

The girl had a thoughtful expression on like the idea had never occurred to her before. "I guess that's true."

Nico looked at the girl and for the first time began to pick up details about her that he had not noticed the night before.

Besides being tall and athletic, Nico saw that she had long black hair in a messy ponytail that reached all the way down her back. There wasn't anything remarkable about her; she looked like all typical girls of Asian descent, but when she shifted her position so that she could stare straight at Annabeth, Nico was shocked to see her eyes. They were an odd, brilliant violet color that flashed in the afternoon sunlight.

Before Nico could make any other observations, Annabeth stepped forward ready to push past the girl towards the direction they had seen Percy disappear. The girl moved to intercept her, and Annabeth growled.

"Get out of my way," Annabeth said in a dangerously low voice.

Anybody who knew Annabeth knew to do as she had asked when she spoke in that voice. She didn't use it often, and it was mostly heard in the heat of a battle.

The girl seemed to note the dangerous tone, but refused to budge.

"No," she said in a calm, yet threatening voice. "You can't go after him."

Annabeth swung an arm right at the girl's face, years of battle training making it a small blur.

Nico blinked in surprise when the girl caught Annabeth's fist without batting an eye. David let out a small whistle, and Nico couldn't help but agreeing with what it implied. Annabeth was a serious warrior that no one would want to get tangled up with. To stop her blow so easily was no small feat.

This seemed to infuriate Annabeth more. She yanked her hand free of the girl's grasp and was going to yell again, but the girl stopped her.

"Do really know Josh?" the girl asked in a soft serious voice.

This caught them off guard and David was the first to break the following silence and reply.

"Josh?"

The girl turned to look at the son of Apollo. "Josh," she repeated. "The one you called Percy."

Annabeth finally recovered from the odd question and said, "Of course, we know Percy!"

At the same time Nico spoke up and asked, "Why?"

The stranger ignored Annabeth's exclamation and now turned her peculiar gaze on Nico.

"I need to know the truth. If we can really trust you," the girl answered, still using that quiet voice.

"How can we trust _you_ when Percy obviously did not trust _you _enough to tell you his real name?" Annabeth nearly growled, gathering all her frustration in that one question.

The girl's eyes flashed with a dangerous light that made David take an involuntary step back. She whipped her head around to direct her glare at Annabeth, but the demigod didn't back down. Instead, Annabeth took a step forward as if daring the girl not to answer that question.

"Do you know why I never knew his name?" she demanded, the anger in her voice rising to new levels. The three demigods wisely kept their mouths shut. "Do you know why? It's because the same demented, sick people who put those wings on his back took away his memories so that _he_ doesn't even remember his own name. And it has been killing him ever since. That's why…" The girl's voice got softer towards the end as her gaze simultaneously hardened.

Annabeth's death scowl also softened just a decimal as she took in this new information, but Nico noticed that she still hadn't let go of her dagger's hilt that she had grabbed subconsciously.

"That's why I need to know if I can trust you. If you really knew him—Percy—then you can help him, right?" she finished with a scowl mean enough to make a telekhine crawl back into his sea cave in horror (1).

Nico wasn't sure what to say. He didn't really want to trust the girl; he didn't even know if he believed what she just said; all of it sounded so incredible even if it was a little vague. But she was also the only link to Percy at the moment, and he wasn't about to lose his friend again.

"You can trust us," he and Annabeth said together.

The girl studied him for a moment before turning her gaze to Annabeth. Annabeth looked like she desperately wanted to punch the stranger, but she also understood that the girl was the only one who could reach Percy at present.

The girl gave a short, harsh laugh that seemed to have come from nowhere. "I'm a horrible judge of character, you know," she said, shaking her head. "My natural instinct tells me you're all my enemies. But—" she said, before any demigod could protest. "—I'll bring Percy back and he'll decide if he can trust you or not. It's his decision anyways."

For the second time that day, Nico was completely surprised. The girl repeated the same actions Percy had done not too long ago, and before he had time to speak another word, the girl was gone on black wings.

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><p><strong>(1) Telekhines: dog faced sea demons that sided with Kronos in the Titans War<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed it**

**~Bluesky21543**


	17. Chapter 17: A Treetop Conversation

**Chapter 17 – A Treetop Conversation**

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><p>Raven flew around, wondering about the three teens. They were pretty strange. She wasn't really sure how typical teens spent their free time since her life had been anything but normal, but she was pretty sure normal kids did not go around fighting monsters with strange weapons. And then there was also the fact that they allowed one of those monsters to stay with them. The monster-dog named Mrs. O'Leary had seemed friendly enough, but those big red eyes did not exactly scream "cuddly" in Raven's mind.<p>

Then there was the fact that Raven didn't trust them. Then again, Raven didn't trust anybody. Whenever they had to go into a city for whatever odd reason (getting supplies or trying to avoid Erasers and monsters), Percy had always done the talking. People in general made her nervous and that always seemed to make her randomly growl at them. Yep, years at the School had made her animalistic and distrusting, but you could hardly blame her.

Despite these misgivings, Raven could not deny the small flicker of hope. No matter how hard her friend tried to hide it, he could never really get rid of that pained look when he tried to remember.

Even if it meant coping with a few strangers she already didn't like, Raven was willing to do just about anything to help her friend regain his memory.

Her own memories were precious to her. They kept her sane and grounded.

She really didn't know how he had been able to cope without his memories for so long.

Raven turned her attention inwardly, spreading her senses out until it touched a familiar electric field.

Turning herself in the right direction, Raven eventually found her friend perched in a tree.

"Hey." Raven alighted next to him.

The other bird-kid merely grunted in response.

They sat there for a moment in comfortable silence. Raven allowed it to linger on for a moment before deciding that being patient was not very productive.

"Why are you in a tree?" Raven asked, not willing to bring up the pressing topic quite yet. "I thought you hated heights."

The boy gave his friend a mock scowl. Raven loved to tease him about his first time flying and his still apparent reluctance to fly despite the fact that wings were solidly grafted on his back.

"I'm not afraid of heights. Heights never scared me. I just… don't like flying," he said.

"Great. A bird-kid who hates flying. I don't know if that's unbearably sad or hilariously ironic," Raven snorted.

"Anyways," he continued, ignoring his friend's sarcastic interruption. "I like trees. I have a couple of friends that are ones."

The boy had finished the last part almost too softly that Raven didn't catch it. Almost. Raven blinked, wondering if she heard right.

"Wait. What did you just say?" Raven asked.

He frowned at her. "Did I do something weird again? Gods, I hate it when I do that."

The boy's face scrunched up into that weird thinking expression of his.

The bird-kid did that often where he would say something really weird or random (like when he swore he always used the plural version of "god"), but when Raven asked him about it, he couldn't or pretended he couldn't remember what he said and what it meant.

Raven sighed.

Turning back to her friend, she saw that her friend had raised a hand to his head, his fingers intertwining into his long, dark hair as he pulled gently on it. He had developed that habit a while back, and Raven knew that this led to him trying to remember, a big fat blank of a failure, and the unyielding headaches that set always set Raven on edge.

"Hey," Raven called, trying to draw his attention away from that. She waved a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Percy. Don't zone out when I'm talking to you."

That got his attention, and the boy turned back to look at Raven.

"Percy?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," Raven confirmed. "That's what that girl called you, right?"

"Yeah," the boy murmured quietly, remembering the small team of teens that he had left in the clearing. "Do think that's really my name?"

Raven snorted, "I dunno. You tell me. It is _your _name. But…" Raven trailed off, looking thoughtful. "I like it. Has a nice ring to it, and it's sure a heck of a lot better than anything we've come up with so far."

The boy was silent for a moment as if absorbing his new name. "Percy," he repeated, trying it out on his own tongue. "Yeah, I guess I like it."

Raven looked at him in faint surprise. That was the first time he had ever said he liked a name. Raven couldn't help but think that there was some credibility to what the strangers had said…

"Do you trust them?" the newly named Percy finally spoke up.

Raven gave him a disbelieving stare. "You're really asking me that?" she asked rhetorically. "You know that if it wouldn't mark me as a serious psychopath, I would probably attack everything that so much as moved."

Percy chuckled softly at that statement.

"A better question," Raven started. "Is if _you _trust them, Percy. You weren't at the School long enough for them to mess you up like they did me and you are better at judging people's characters."

Percy quieted, looking thoughtful. When he finally spoke, he announced, "Yeah, I think I do trust them. I don't know why, but I feel drawn to them…"

Raven nodded. That was good enough for her.

"And a lot of what that girl said would make would explain some things," he continued.

"Explain some things?" Raven asked with her head tilted to one side. "Like what?"

Percy shrugged. "She said my father was Poseidon," he said.

"So?" Raven questioned. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but the bird-girl couldn't remember where she had heard it exactly.

"He's the Greek god of the sea," he informed her.

She stared at him in disbelief. The little bit of history she had learned in middle school suddenly came back.

"Wait," she said. "That girl said you were the son of some mythical, dead Greek god?"

"Gods can't die. And they're not mythical," he said matter-a-factually.

If he had said that to anybody else, they might have tried to take him to some crazy ward, but Raven, as already stated, was not normal. She had seen some crazy things in her short life, and adding Greek gods to the mix wasn't going to change much. Actually, now that she thought about it, she agreed with Percy's previous statement that being the son of some Greek sea god would explain a lot.

"That man we fought a few months ago. He really did have one eye," Raven remembered.

"He was a Cyclops," Percy confirmed.

"And all those other monsters that had similar electric fields. They're all from Greek mythology," Raven mused. Then something else clicked. "Your powers to control water. If you're the son of Poseidon, that all makes sense."

"And our telepathic link," Percy added.

"Wait. What?" Raven asked, confused.

"Wait," Percy said, copying her bewildered expression. "You never felt it."

"Felt what?" Raven said, scowling at Percy's indistinctness.

"Sometimes I think I could feel your emotions and on occasion, your thoughts," he explained. "Since you have eel DNA—" Raven scowled again at the mentioning of that. "—and I'm the son of Poseidon, then it would explain why I felt like that some of the times."

Raven lessened her scowl for a moment to think.

"I guess there were some times where I thought I felt your emotions, but I never thought much about it. As for hearing your thoughts… I can't really think of a time when I heard your them," she said.

"Maybe I have to initiate it," Percy said with a shrug.

Raven frowned at that. "Great. You can hear my thought, but I can't hear yours," she said, a little peeved at the idea.

"I don't really control what thought I hear. And the ones I do hear are ones usually calling me an 'idiot,'" Percy said.

Raven smiled. "Yep, those sound like my thought all right."

They laughed a little and then sat for a moment in silence. Raven thought about the word the girl had used to describe Percy—"demigod." She assumed that the three others she had left behind were also this demigod thing, which would explain the old-fashion weapons that looked similar to Percy's magic sword… speaking of the three strangers…

"You know," Raven began. "They're still waiting for you down there."

Percy understood she was talking the three teens.

"Yeah," he nearly whispered. "I guess we should get back to them. Thanks for talking to me Raven."

He was so wrapped in his thoughts about his unclear past that he had almost missed the next thing Raven said.

"Kailani."

He looked at her confused. "Sky-what?" he asked.

The bird-girl scowled at him, so he knew he had heard wrong. "Not sky. Kailani," she repeated. "That's my name."

It took a moment for Percy to register the information he had just received. He had been so used to calling her Raven, that he had forgotten that it wasn't her real name.

"What?" the girl asked, irritated by his lack of response.

"Nothing," he said, holding his hands up before she got more annoyed. "I'm surprised that's all. I would never have guessed that, that was your name. Raven's a pretty dark name and Kailani's so…" he paused finding the right word. "…tropical."

"Well it is Hawaiian," the girl huffed. Then continued when she saw Percy's questioning stare. "My parents lived in Hawaii before coming to the mainland."

Percy nodded. "Kailani. I never would have guessed. It's so different from—"

He stopped when he noticed his friend's scowl had deepened.

"I finally tell you my name, and the first thing you do is insult it," she said stiffly.

Percy laughed at her irritated expression, and she shot him a look that meant murder.

"I'm not insulting it," he tried to explain. "I'm just…"

He trailed off thinking.

"How about Kai?" he asked. "I think it fits you better."

A memory flashed in the black-winged girl's mind.

"Lani!" a little boy's voice called happily. The voice belonged to her little brother.

She had hated nicknames, but her little brother had insisted her name was too long even though his own name was just as long as hers.

"Lani!" the voice echoed in her reminiscing.

"Fine," she finally said. "I guess that's fair since I've given you thousands of names in the last year."

Percy smiled and then asked, "So why did you decide to tell me your name now."

Kai shrugged. "I finally learned yours. I thought it was only fair that you learned mine."

The smile widened on the boys face. "I guess we better rejoin those guys down there," he stated.

Kai nodded and then froze.

A howl ripped through the air. Percy also stiffened at the sound.

It wasn't a monster-dog howl, although Kai desperately wished it were.

The two bird-kids shared a terrified glance.

The Erasers had found them.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Let me explain a few things about the name Kai.**

**No, Kai is not an Asian name (it could be, but it's not in this context). It comes from the Hawaiian name Kailani, which means "sea and sky." I thought it was very appropriate name for this story. No, an Asian girl having a Hawaiian name is not weird. If you don't already know, the Hawaiian Islands have a very high Asian population (immigration, duh), and I know actually quite a few Asians with Hawaiian names.**

**Yes, I know Kai is very different from the name Raven, but that's what I was kind of going for. In the following chapters, you will see different sides of Raven/Kai that you have not seen before. This is a result of her hanging around more people, and the new sides of Raven/Kai are probably closer to her original personality before she came to the School.**

**The reason Percy likes the name Kai instead (besides that it's easier for me to type) is because of what he first thought she had said, which was "sky." He thought that "sky" fit Raven/Kai very well, so in future chapter you might see him also call her "Sky," but I'll spell it "Skai" so that it won't be confused.**

**One more thing, if you're interested in what Raven/Kai was like before her capture, she was very much a Hawaiian-born girl. She was more laidback, letting things happen instead of planning ahead. She was more trusting, easy-going, and happy. She enjoys story-telling and hearing stories and was very protective of her younger brother because of a five years age difference. Raven/Kai probably won't revert back to her original character because the School left such a big impact on her, but hopefully she'll loosen up as we go.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	18. Chapter 18: Erasers

_**Italics – **_**flashback or thoughts**

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><p><strong>Chapter 18 – Eraser… Like the Thing at the End of a Pencil?<strong>

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><p>Once the initial anger towards the girl and the shock of seeing not one but <em>two <em>winged kids (one of them being her lost boyfriend) had died down, Annabeth allowed the deepening depression to settle on her shoulders.

Her lost boyfriend had not only not recognized her but also had run _away _from her.

The last look of pain on his face had permanently ingrained itself in the girl's psyche.

During the past year, Annabeth had imagined what it would be like to reunite with her friend, but none of the scenarios had come remotely come close to this reality. It almost seemed surreal.

In one day, Annabeth had gone from denial, sadness, anger, depression, confusion, and hurt. Those were only a few of the sum total of her feelings.

The daughter of Athena was not one usually to go through violent mood-swings. She was normally a pretty levelheaded, admittedly stubborn and scary at times (or a lot of times), strategist who fights tooth and nail for the people she loves. But after the events of only a day, Annabeth was seriously losing her patience to stay calm… and perhaps some of her sanity too.

Both Nico and David were not talkative people so they waited in silence, which Annabeth gladly accepted. The void gave her time to fume for a moment or two.

Mrs. O'Leary had also gotten impatient, whining every now and then and casting sorrowful glances at Percy's discarded jacket. Eventually, the hellhound's pitiful sounds must have gotten on Nico's last nerve so he let her wander off to do whatever hellhounds do.

The daughter of Athena also found the wait irritating and testing, so Annabeth began to think—a dangerous pastime.

Annabeth wondered at the girl's words. It was pretty clear that she was telling the truth about Percy's lost memories. His reaction to her had been proof enough of that.

The wings had been quite a shock. Annabeth had gone through several stages of denial, but the fact that it had happened before her eyes combined with the dark feathers littering the ground confirmed that they had been real.

The dark-haired girl had mentioned some "demented, sick people" that had done that to Percy. She wondered briefly on this, but as of right now, no answers presented themselves, so all Annabeth could do was to continue her impatient wait for their return.

The only thing left to think about was the girl. Annabeth felt anger build in side of her at the thought of the stranger. This anger came from not only the way she had prevented Annabeth from chasing after Percy, but also from jealousy since she was the only person that seemed to be able to get close to Percy at the moment. The anger turned to sadness as Annabeth questioned what was to become of the relationship they had built a year ago. If Percy didn't remember her, what would happen to them?

A touch on her shoulder startled the demigod out of her thoughts, and she was about to cast an angry look at the intruder when she saw Nico's wary eyes and David with an arrow on his bow.

"Someone's coming," Nico whispered to her.

Annabeth listened and heard several people crashing ungracefully through the forest.

Cursing herself in ancient Greek, Annabeth realized she had not noticed the obvious noise because of her own thoughts.

She drew her weapon, and the three demigods turned to face whatever invaders came out.

Annabeth was surprised when the undergrowth parted to reveal a party of men. They seemed out of place in these woods and looked like should be working out in a gym, not tramping noisily through a forest.

The men, about seven of them, looked equally surprised, but that look soon changed to an expression of disgust as if Annabeth and her companions were a bunch of crap not worth their time.

The one in front was the first to speak. "Claw," he said, turning to look at the bulkiest of the group. "This is the place I'm sure of it."

The one named Claw, the obvious leader of the group, walked forward to stand next to the one in front. The first man flinched away as if he expected some sort of punishment, but Claw only lifted his nose into the air like a dog.

Annabeth shared perplexed glances with her friends. Whoever the people were, they acted really strange.

After taking a few sniffs, Claw announced, "They were here. Their scent's all over this place."

That comment made Annabeth think of Percy.

"So he was running from somebody," Nico muttered from her right.

The thought of somebody chasing her boyfriend made her angry. She stepped forward, dagger raised, and called out, "Who are you?"

The men looked at her as if a rock had spoken, which only served to tick the demigod off more.

"You think the freaks finally made some friends," another man asked the leader.

Claw snorted, "I dunno, but I think it's time to take some hostages."

Annabeth tensed, ready for battle, but before she could charge, the men stepped forward growling.

It only took a second, but Annabeth saw everything as if it was in High Def. The men went through horrid, grotesque transformations right on the spot. Fur seemed to sprout from all parts of their bodies. Claws and fangs elongated and gleamed menacingly. Before her very eyes, the seven men were replaced by werewolf-look-alikes.

"This day just gets weirder and weirder," Nico muttered again gripping his Stygian iron sword.

Annabeth didn't care what they were and let out a battle cry as she charged. She saw red anger haze over her vision. She recognized these wolf-men. The man who had kidnapped Percy had been one. Whoever they were, they were connected to Percy's disappearance, and her blood screamed for vengeance.

The leader matched the sound with his own blood-curling howl and leapt to meet her.

Right before they met, Annabeth saw a gold flash of movement, and in the back of her mind, she noted that David must have let loose an arrow. That information did not fully register in her mind until she saw the arrow pass right _through_ the werewolf man.

This made both of them pause in their charge.

In Annabeth's mind, shock replaced anger as she tried to figure out what the wolf-men were. They looked like monsters, but the celestial bronze had passed through the creature like it would for a normal human. She didn't have much time to dwell on the thought for long when the wolf-man, who had recovered from his confusion over the arrow that had passed harmlessly through his body, swiped a massive paw for her head.

Using every bit of her battle training, Annabeth ducked and rolled with the movement so that when she came up again, she was well away from the wolf-man's flailing arms.

She took a brief glance at her celestial bronze dagger. If the arrow didn't work, there was no way the dagger would fair any better.

For a second, her mind flashed back to the horrible night when she was held hostage.

* * *

><p><em>Percy stood before them with her. Riptide gleamed wickedly.<em>

_Annabeth tried to pull herself out of the iron grip, but the wolf-man remained unchanged._

_Silently, she shouted at Percy to bring Riptide down on the creatures head, but wolf-man's voice shattered that thought._

"_Celestial bronze. That's what the Doc called it, ain't it?" he said to no one in particular. "Sorry, Bub. But that toy ain't going to work on me. I ain't no fairytale monster."_

* * *

><p>She sheathed her weapon and faced her enemies with only her hands and feet to protect herself.<p>

The demigod wasn't too worried about herself. She was used to close combat since that was what was required from the short blade of her dagger, but Nico and David were in trouble.

Nico might be able to fend for himself, but David was accustomed to long distance fighting with his bow.

Annabeth desperately looked for her companions, but the wolf-men had separated the group.

"Keep your eyes on me, kid," the wolf-man named Claw growled.

He swung a heavy paw at her, and she blocked easily but had to bite back a cry of pain when the blow held much more power than she had anticipated.

The wolf-man noted the pained expression on her face and proceeded to rain down heavy blows on her. Annabeth kept the blows at bay, but the intensity behind the hits wore down on her.

The wolf-man prepared for an especially powerful hit when Annabeth heard something equivalent to a small explosion, and the wolf-man crumpled with an ear-splitting howl.

Something brushed her arm, and Annabeth spun around hands raised. She recognized the girl from earlier, but did not relax in any sort of relief, especially when she saw the girl's expression.

She looked absolutely deadly. A strange light that reminded Annabeth of her friend Thalia danced strangely around her body, and her eyes were lit with an intense purple-white light.

"Go help your friends," the girl said, nodding to where Percy was fighting three of the wolf-men away from two dazed demigods.

"Go," the girl urged again, turning her pupiless gaze towards Annabeth, which sent a shiver down her spine. "It's the least we can do after the monster-dog attack."

Annabeth nodded and ran over to her friends. Minus a couple scratches and bruises, Annabeth was relieved to find that they were all right. When finding no serious injuries on themselves or each other, the three demigods turned to watch the fight.

Both of the bird-kids faced wolf-men with their wings outstretched in a threatening manner.

"Claw," the girl spat at the leader. The strange electricity still spun wildly around her body. "Didn't we lose you in like Nevada or something?"

The wolf-man chuckled at this. "Why don't the two runaway freaks come home?" he asked. "Dr. Matthews sure misses you, Subject A-22."

The girl growled at the name and snarled, "Tell Matthews he can go die in a hole somewhere."

With that, Percy and the girl leaped at their adversaries.

Annabeth watched, amazed. One year had done nothing to hinder Percy's fighting abilities; in fact, he might have picked up a few new things in the year he was missing.

The girl and he fought in perfect synchronization, stepping around each other, covering each others blindsides, like they had been doing this all their lives.

Annabeth's focused on Percy once more and she saw the familiar moves of a Greek-trained warrior, but also some styles that accommodated his new appendages. Percy used his wings as well as his hands and feet to attack. The heavy weight of the appendages stunned the wolf-men long enough for him to get a solid hit with his fist.

Looking away for a second, Annabeth saw that the girl matched Percy in fury and in strength. Whatever the mysterious light was, she shot it at the wolf-men and they crumpled with the smell of burnt fur filling the air.

It was obvious the wolf-men were not equipped to fight the bird-kids. They had far superior strength and numbers, but Annabeth could tell by the way they stumbled over each other that they were more of solo fighters.

Annabeth couldn't help but feel a little bit of déjà vu as she watched the fight. Not too long ago (last night actually), the exact same thing had happened except with hellhounds and she and her other two companions had been the ones fighting.

The bird-kids made quick work of them.

The seven backed off suddenly, realizing that the attack was failing.

Percy and the girl didn't pursue them in their retreat, but simply stood their ground as if daring them to try anything else.

The girl smirked at the wolf-men. "Tired already?" she taunted. "How about you just leave us alone and go back to Matthews with your tails tucked between your legs?"

The wolf-men snarled, but theirs were drowned out by furious barking.

Annabeth glanced back at Nico, one eyebrow raised.

The son of Hades shrugged innocently, while he pocketed something that looked like a dog whistle. (1)

Mrs. O'Leary exploded from the undergrowth, baring her fangs at the wolf-men that now looked dwarfed beside her enormous body.

Since they weren't monsters, Annabeth couldn't be sure what the wolf-men saw through the Mist, but whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant.

Mrs. O'Leary snatched a wolf-man in her jaws, glaring fire down at the others. That was all it took for the rest of the wolf-men to stumble backwards and bolt into the forest, their yelps of fear dissipating into the wind with their haste.

The huge hellhound shook the wolf-man in her mouth once or twice before she promptly deposited it at Percy's feet, looking quite proud of herself.

If they had not just survived a strange wolf-man attack, Annabeth would have laughed at the surprised and disgusted look on Percy's face.

Hesitantly, Annabeth joined Percy and the girl and looked down on the half-man, half-wolf body.

"What are they?" David asked quietly when he and Nico came up beside her.

"Erasers," Percy said dully, nudging the wolf-man with his foot to make sure he was really dead.

"Like the thing on the end of a pencil?" David asked in a disbelieving voice.

Percy shook his head, not looking at them. "Erasers. Wolf-human hybrids. The product of the School. Kai and I are the other products—avian-human hybrids."

Before he could explain further, the girl spoke up. "We can't stay here," she said, the anger in her voice barely suppressed. "We don't know if they have more reinforcements out there. We have to move first and then we can exchange stories."

"What about the body?" Annabeth asked. "Should we do anything with it?"

The girl shook her head. "The Erasers will eventually come back. They won't leave any evidence behind."

Annabeth couldn't help feel relieved. Just looking at the strange, mangled body was putting her on edge.

The girl and Percy exchanged a glance and went to pick up their things.

Annabeth checked her group once more and then followed the two quickly into the woods.

The tension slowly eased as the group of five teens and a hellhound moved away from the Eraser-wolf-man thing, but as the tension died, Annabeth couldn't help but feel a prick of sadness.

Not once, since Percy had come back to fight off the Erasers, or even now as they trudged through the woods, had he looked at her or even acknowledged her presence.

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><p><strong>(1) The whistle that Nico used was not a Stygian ice whistle like the one Percy used in <strong>_**The Battle of the Labyrinth**_**. It's just one of the things he has because he is the son of Hades.**

**A/N: Curious genius brought up a pretty good question: How does Raven/Kai not shock herself when she uses her electrical abilities? (Apparently electric eels shock themselves sometimes despite their insulated bodies.)**

**My own speculation is that Raven/Kai does sometimes shock herself, but has either grown used to it and ignores minor pains or knows her own limits and does go over them to avoid major self-inflicted injury.**

**Added onto that is Curious genius's own explanation that I really like: "It would be a possibility that the mad scientists altered her DNA in such a way that she grew a new system similar to the nervous system, but more robust, and used solely for channeling electricity from its source to her muscles, as well as channeling electricity away from nerves, the brain, and other vital organs, and into a free floating power dump muscle located in her abdomen, so as to protect her from electric shock. Due to the nature of this system, it would be a necessity for her to have control of the system in order to route the power to where it was needed, and this would allow her to have greater control of the power when it was outside of her body than an electric eel, even to a very finite extent."**

**Basically, it all comes down to she has "wires" that help her channel the energy to where it is needed and prevents the electricity from straying to some place that might be harmful to her.**

**So there is a little bit of scientific info for you all and thanks to Curious genius for that explanation.**

**So have a great Easter and Happy Resurrection Day!**

**He is Risen!**

**~Bluesky21543**


	19. Chapter 19: A is for Awkward

**Chapter 19 – A is for Awkward**

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><p>Awkward.<p>

Yep, there was no other way to describe it really.

Two days of this and it hadn't really changed, but what do you expect?

He was an amnesiac kid with wings traveling with a girl who looked ready to murder anything that so much as twitched an inch.

Two days of walking and shadow-traveling (or whatever the creepy kid had called that darkness thingy) with three teens who claimed to know him, and they had done nothing.

Well, not "nothing." They had walked and ate and breathed of course, but besides introductions and a few explanations about how shadow-traveling worked, they had done nothing else but bare each other's presence in a thick awkward silence.

Percy wasn't sure if he should be happy or annoyed.

He wanted his memories back, sure. Who wouldn't in his situation?

But ever since the memories had come within an arm's reach away, expected questions had come along with the unexpected fear, doubt, and the occasional headache.

Who was he? What if he didn't like his past? How would the other people he knew react to him, his loss of memories... his wings?

Percy was sure his wings were the cause of the awkward silence. The blonde girl—Annabeth—had seemed more than willing to talk when she first ran into him, but after his rather dramatic and blatant display of his wings, she was shocked into silence. This seemed to make the pale boy worried.

Right now, both bird-kids had jackets on, covering the awkward subject.

Percy glanced at the three teenagers in front of him and then shot a glance at Kai.

She currently had a scowl on her face, her eyes boring distrustfully into the backs of the three kids. The only reason she wasn't doing any more than glaring was because the three kids had gotten them out of California via shadow-traveling. Kai wouldn't admit it, but she was extremely relieved to be out of the western part of the U.S., so in some small way, she owed them a debt.

Feeling Percy's gaze, Kai turned her own eyes to meet his. Percy just held her gaze for a second and nodded at the three figures in front. Kai followed his nod and then snorted in slight exasperation.

"You're going to have to talk to them eventually, you know?" Kai whispered.

Percy shrugged. "Why not later?"

Kai snorted, "Idiot, you've fought monsters and Erasers non-stop for the past year, but you can't ask three kids a simple question?"

"This is different," Percy muttered.

"Idiot," Kai muttered again, but she complied with his unspoken request. "Hey," she said, raising her voice to be heard.

The three didn't stop, but the girl—Annabeth—turned her head to glare. Percy winced under that gaze, not because it was harsh or anything, but because her grey eyes seemed to be a storm of conflicted feelings—sadness, anger, weariness...

Kai must have noticed this too because she didn't return the rude look. "How much further until we reach wherever we're going?"

"Camp Half-blood," the boy—Nico—stated. "And we're almost there."

As if to confirm this, the hellhound (as the two bird-kids now knew they were called) gave a small, happy bark. Only she seemed to be unaffected by the tense mood of the unusual party.

One of the few things that Percy had learned besides his name and that he was a thing called a demigod was that this was his dog (Nico had to explain why she kept jumping on Percy).

Once he had gotten used to the idea of owning a monster-dog, Percy found himself enjoying Mrs. O'Leary's affection. She disregarded any tension the group had created and even had taken a liking to Kai when the bird-girl had finally allowed the enormous black-furred dog to come near her.

Percy sighed and turned his attention to take in his surroundings in order to forget the depressing silence. They had left the city a while ago and now were in a pretty dense forest. Tall trees stood proudly on either side of him, but despite the lushness of the land, it seemed strangely quiet as if holding some secret.

In the distance, Percy saw a particular pine tree. It had no great significance in its appearance, but Percy felt a certain draw towards it, a connection maybe?

"Is that a... dragon?" Kai asked.

Percy looked again and saw that he had somehow missed a long dragon curled around the base of the pine tree. How he had not noticed it, Percy wasn't sure considering that the dragon was blowing smoke out with each breath and had glittering eyes that seemed to pierce right into Percy despite the considerable distance that still lay between them.

"Yes," Nico answered. "He guards the magical border of the camp and the Gold Fleece."

Kai seemed to be in a more talkative mood because she asked another question. "What magical border?"

Nico looked at Annabeth, clearly urging her to take up the explanation, but the girl only continued walking with her eyes set straight ahead.

The pale boy sighed and answered, "There's the Mist which keeps humans from seeing the camp." He gave a side-ways glance at Kai and added, "Well, normal humans anyways. There are some exceptions like Rachel for example. The second barrier is—"

Nico's explanation was suddenly cut off by a startled yelp. Percy whipped his head to look back behind him to see that Kai had stopped just a few steps behind him. She was holding her head as if she had hit it against something.

She scowled right in front of her at something Percy couldn't see.

She then looked up to glare at Nico as if he was the cause of the sudden pain to her head. "And the second barrier?" she asked through clenched teeth.

Nico looked somewhat apologetic. "The second barrier is a physical barrier that keeps monsters and humans out."

"Really now? My head hadn't noticed," she muttered sarcastically.

Annabeth and David had backtracked to rejoin the three stuck at the border.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked.

"The barrier," Nico answered simply.

The girl looked smug for a moment, casting a distasteful look at the stuck bird-kid.

Percy had no idea what had passed between Kai and the girl when he had left them alone for a few moments, but knowing Kai, some harsh words had probably been exchanged. He wasn't sure why, but Percy disliked the tension between the two girls, and he definitely did not like that look the demigod was currently giving his friend.

He turned towards Kai again. "I, Perseus Jackson, give you permission to enter the camp." (1)

The words were out before he even realized what he had said. Kai dropped her scowl long enough to give him a questioning look, but Percy could only shrug back in response. He had no idea where the words had come from, let alone what they meant.

Annabeth stared at Percy in surprise. "How did you know...?"

Percy shook his head. "I don't know..."

Nico looked at the puzzled bird-girl who still stood waiting at the border. "You can cross over now."

Kai hesitated for a moment, but then crossed over with no difficulty or any sign of the previous invisible wall.

Turning away from the border and leading the way forward, Nico called back, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

* * *

><p>Minus the rather painful run in with magical barrier, crossing over felt no different. The area around Kai was still heavily wooded. No mystical palace shimmered into view or anything like that. There was one slight difference though.<p>

Sounds could be heard around her. The formerly silent forest suddenly wielded many sounds that one would expect to hear in the woods and even some that would not be expected. It was as if the invisible barrier had lifted to reveal the real forest and the one on the other side was just some fake front. Birds, rustling, and faint telltale noises of human life could all now be heard although their causes remained to yet be seen.

Eventually, they came to the top of a hill and looked down. Spread out below them was a camp, which was centralized around a huge campfire. What appeared to be cabins were placed in a U shape around the fire and other structures could be seen here and there. The closest thing to them was a large house with a wrap around porch. The buildings were odd in their own ways. Kai could see Greek influence mixed in with modern ideas and structures. On the farthest side, the bird-girl could easily make out the sea, glistening brightly in the sunlight.

All in all, it was very impressive.

"Does any of this look familiar?" Kai whispered to Percy.

Percy's green eyes took in the valley below them before he answered. "I'm not sure. I think… I think so. It feels… like… I don't know."

Kai raised an eyebrow at the vague, incomplete statements, but made no comment when she saw her friend's tortured expression.

Unsure what to do next, Kai said the first thing that came to mind, "So normal humans can't see this, huh? Then what do they see?"

Nico shrugged. "The cover name is Delphi Strawberry Service. We don't really care what the humans see as long as the Mist and border keeps them out."

Annabeth led the way down the hill towards the big house with the wrap around porch. Before they reached it though, a girl in some sort of armor came and greeted them.

"Annabeth!" she squealed, giving Kai an earache. "You all came back! Did you take care of all the hellhounds?"

Annabeth smiled tightly, obviously not wanting to be caught up in a conversation. "Yes, the hellhounds were taken care of. But, um, excuse us, Ellie. We need to find Chiron."

"Oh, yes. Of course," the girl answered, bobbing her head up and down. Kai briefly wondered who gave her sugar. "You'll want to report and stuff. I'll leave you alone. I have to go patrol the border anyways."

"Thanks, Ellie," Annabeth said in a tense voice.

The girl began to skip off, but before she could make her exit, she caught sight of the two strangers.

"Hey! Who are they? Are the demigods? That's so c—OH MY GODS!" The girl had practically screamed the last part, and Kai took an involuntary step back. The girl had some really powerful lungs.

Unfortunately, the scream had easily carried through at least half the camp and other kids came running to see what was going on. Some even carried drawn weapons as if prepared to do battle.

Ellie seemed to be having trouble breathing, but recovered before any of the other campers had reached them.

"Percy? Percy Jackson? You're alive. Oh my gods!"

Kai heard Nico and Annabeth curse in some language she didn't understand and they stepped in front of the two bird-kids to try to ward off the curious crowd, but at Ellie's declaration, the crowd went into a frenzy and pushed forward.

People were beginning to crowd around, invading personal space and stepping on an invisible and very fragile border. Kai would normally have started yelling, but Percy's emotions started to radiate off his body and assault her own mind. The place and the faces were starting to confuse Percy, and in turn, Kai, catching some of his confusion, couldn't think straight.

That pushed Kai over the edge. Responding more to her hyperactive nerves than her will, electricity sparked around her body, surging around her protectively to fend off the strangers.

The closest kids yelped in surprise and knocked into their neighbors as they tried to avoid the dangerous light.

Kai couldn't help the desperate fear that nearly overwhelmed her. Crowds terrified her, but years in the School had drilled in the fact that fear meant weakness and the weak could not survive, so her outward response was to snarl and lash out randomly.

"Kailani!"

Kai suddenly realized what she was doing and forced herself to reign the electricity back in although some sparks still danced on the surface of her skin. She stood there panting, her legs trembling, but she wasn't sure if it was from fear or overexertion.

The bird-girl's wild display of electricity had at least made the kids back off warily. Several still eyed Percy who stood next to Kai, but none dared to try pushing forward again.

Confused murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd, but none dared to get any closer.

Eventually one person called out hesitantly. "Percy?"

Percy whipped his head around as he searched for the source of the voice.

Once again waves of fear, confusion, and apprehension rolled off her friend and hit her full force.

She knew that Percy could probably feel her own negative emotions and it only served to add to the tension in both of them.

"I think there is a need for an emergency counselor's meeting," a new voice said.

Kai turned to meet the kind, sad gaze of a man. Or at least she thought he was a man before she noticed the lower half of his body. To her amazement, instead of legs, the man sported a white horse's lower half. She blinked a few times but then relaxed. Sadly, she had seen weirder things in her life and the horse-man—a centaur she believed he was called—did not rank very high in the "weird" category.

Something about him made Kai calm down a bit. Generally, adults made her even more nervous than teenagers did, but maybe it was because animal part of him that made her feel more comfortable in his presence.

The man raised his voice and the campers immediately quieted. "All counselors come to the Big House for a meeting. The rest of you continue your activities and you will be informed later on."

The majority of the kids departed with grumblings, whispers, and glances all directed at Percy.

"Hello," the deep voice came closer this time.

Kai directed her attention back to the centaur and found him towering above her, which set all her nerves on high alert again.

He extended a hand to her in a friendly manner. "I'm Chiron, the activities director here."

Kai stared helplessly at the hand. Despite the certain sense of kinship she had felt toward other half-animal being, she couldn't bring herself to shake his hand, especially after the slight panic attack she just had.

Thankfully, Percy realized what going on before things got awkward.

"Sorry," he apologized for her. "She doesn't like being touched." Percy instead took Chiron's hand and shook it. "I'm Percy."

Chiron stared at Percy in confusion and he winced when he realized that in the past, he probably already knew the centaur.

The two bird-kids were once again saved from an awkward situation when Nico came up behind them.

"Chiron. There are a few… issues with Percy right now. It's probably best if we start the meeting to discuss them," the boy said.

Chiron blinked one more time before letting go of Percy's hand and turning to gather the other kids into the Big House.

Kai sighed. She was surprised that Percy had actually spoken up for her to the centaur, but considering the way Percy had been acting during the two-day trip to this place, she was probably going to end up doing most of the talking again… joy…

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Words copied from <em>The Sea of Monsters <em>when Annabeth had let Tyson into camp.**

**A/N: So I hoped this chapter at least cleared one thing up for you… Kai is not a demigod. A lot of you have been guessing her supposed godly parent and asking about it, I never really planned her to be one. *shrugs* She may have some godly blood (who knows?) but as far as I'm concerned she's 100% human… well except for the bird and eel DNA.**

**Hope you all enjoyed this super awkward chapter!**

**~Bluesky21543**


	20. Chapter 20: Won't Talk, Can't Talk

**Chapter 20 – Won't Talk, Can't Talk**

* * *

><p>It wasn't much of a meeting room if it could be called that at all. All it really consisted of was a bunch of chairs situated around a worn-down ping-pong table. There were about twenty kids in total. All ranged in appearance and age.<p>

Percy and Kai sat as far away from the others as possible, but the small area around the ping-pong table didn't really allow for this. He was grateful that at least Annabeth and Nico were the closest to him and not some other stranger that he was probably supposed to know.

Percy kept his head down. A massive headache was beginning to form and the stares were making him very uncomfortable.

Everyone shifted uneasily as they shot stray glances at their hero and gave soft whispers to their neighbors. The tense atmosphere was eventually broken by an old, gentle voice.

"So, Annabeth. Would you care to explain what is going on?"

Percy turned around to see the man from before come in except this time he was sitting down in a wheelchair. Percy stared at the wheelchair in confusion, wondering how the centaur was able to sit down and where his legs had gone. But then again, he had a magic pen that grew when he uncapped it, so maybe it wasn't all that incredible.

Annabeth glanced at Percy with uncertainty in her eyes.

"Well," she started hesitantly. "As you all know, Nico, David, and I went to take care of the hellhounds that were terrorizing the wild in California. They were easily taken care of, but during our fight we came across Percy."

"And Kai," Nico added.

"The name's Kailani," Kai grumbled.

"If the idiot was alive all this time, then why did he stay in California? Why didn't he come back here?" The comment came from a girl with long, stringy brown hair and a pretty nasty looking sneer.

As if it were a catalyst, her questioned caused another outbreak of voices from the gathered campers. People tried to speak over each other in order for their own questions to be heard and answered.

Percy tried to respond to the first question, but his voice was instantly lost in the unorganized mess of the other campers.

As the volume in the room escalated, others tried to calm the campers who were now shouting at each other rather than Percy, but it only added to the chaos of the room.

Beside him, Kai was tense; the noise reminded both of them of the last battle they fought in the arena. The sounds echoed off the bare walls of the room and the suffocating noise seemed to add to Percy's headache and brought back unwanted feelings.

"If they don't shut up soon, I'm going to fry someone," Kai muttered darkly.

Percy shot a look at his friend. Her face was grim with barely a hint of emotion, but the small sparks surrounding her arms betrayed some of her agitation.

"I'm pretty sure that's not going to help anything," Percy whispered back.

"It'll help relieve my headache," Kai growled. "They've got five seconds to shut up or someone's going to get hurt."

"Kai," Percy warned, but the bird-girl was already making a movement to stand.

"Kai!" Percy repeated, a little more urgently.

"Quiet!"

Percy jumped slightly in his seat, not because the harsh voice had startled him, but rather because of the fact that Kai had not been the one to shout.

Percy turned just in time to see the brown-haired girl slam a heavy dagger into the ping-pong table, making it rattle violently and silencing anyone else who had still been talking after her angry yell.

The room was suddenly quiet, and Percy would have been grateful for that silence if it didn't show the obvious tension that did not dissipate along with the noise.

Chiron cleared his throat and spoke. "Clarisse, child. I would appreciate it if your ways for quieting the room were not so… violent." The centaur pointedly looked at the dagger that was abusing the already worn surface of their meeting table.

Percy was suddenly aware why the ping-pong table had so many scratches and dents.

The girl did not loose her dangerous glare, but obliged with Chiron's unspoken request by removing the dagger and sheathing it.

"So," the girl—Clarisse—said, letting the word hang in the air threateningly as if daring anyone to interrupt her. No one spoke up, so the demigod continued. "What I want to know is why Prissy here spent all that time in California and didn't try contacting us?"

Everyone swung their gazes around to where Percy and Kai were sitting.

Feeling uncomfortable with the sudden attention, Percy avoided their eyes and sent Kai a silent plea.

Kai just shrugged back helplessly and nodded towards his waiting audience.

"I lost my memory," Percy answered, his sentence unsure and hesitant. "Actually it was stolen from me. I don't remember my home, this place, or… my name."

Gods, he didn't even remember his own name. How pathetic was that?

There was a long pause as the room's occupants took in the knowledge that their hero of the Second Titan War didn't remember who they were or even who he was. Then for the second time, the silence broke as several voices spoke at once, although it was more subdued as they cast wary glances at Clarisse.

Percy watched self-consciously as demigods turned to their neighbors to whisper their opinion while giving him strange looks.

"Can you please explain this, Percy?" the man asked, speaking over the other hushed whispers. His voice was gentle and sad, but Percy still could not hold back a wince.

He didn't want their pity; he didn't want this. He wanted to sleep and never wake up or maybe he wanted to back in the wilderness with Kai. At least the wilderness had been familiar to him.

_But isn't this what you wanted, _a nasty little voice sneered in the back of his mind. _You wanted to know your past. Well, here it is. All you have to do is ask…_

Percy shoved the voice out of his mind. It definitely wasn't helping.

Kai cleared her throat, obviously taking over for Percy. "It was the School."

"A school did this to Percy?" a girl asked softly as if anything louder than a whisper would make the ceiling crash down on them.

"I always knew the school system was trying to brainwash us," another kid muttered. He was promptly slapped by his neighbor, and all attention was again given to the bird-girl.

"Not a school. The School," Kai clarified. "We don't know the real name of that place, so that's what we call it."

The inevitable question came. "What is the School?"

Kai and Percy shared a glance. Percy's throat had closed up and was unable to answer. Kai's lips were drawn into a tight, unrelenting line.

They couldn't talk about it, but they weren't going to get any peace until the questions were answered.

Percy tried to answer, even opened his mouth to, but his voice seemed frozen in the back of his throat.

Kai nudged him softly, and when he turned to look at her, he saw her slowly shaking her head.

Percy bit his lip and sat back in his chair, admittedly relieved. He would have to thank Kai later for this.

"The School," Kai repeated in a tight voice, but somehow she managed better than Percy and refused to let it falter. "It's a place of human experimentation. They're bent on discovering the perfect Super Human."

_Show them, _Percy thought. He had never tried to test the telepathy thing, but right now, his throat still denied his voice access through, so he might as well try to communicate with Kai this way.

Kai hesitated, clearly having received the message. He could feel Kai resisting the idea, but then relent. They were going to find out one way or another.

Kai slipped her jacket off and allowed the jet-black wings to extend.

Collective gasps were heard and the whisperings started up again in a frenzied heat.

"Those can't be—"

"They did that to you… and Percy?"

"And the electricity. Was that also…?"

Scowling at the unwanted attention, Kai roughly tugged her jacket on again so the appendages were once again covered.

"Yes, they did that to me and Percy. Yes, I have the ability to generate electric fields because of the experiments. The electricity is supposed to help me fly, but sorry if I accidently shock any of you with it," Kai snarled. Clearly, the last sentence was meant as a threat.

Percy felt all eyes on him again for what felt like the millionth time today.

Chiron was the first to speak up, "Please can you explain a little bit more? Is there anything else…?"

Kai whipped her head around to glare at the camp director. "I've told you all you need to know."

"I really have to disagree with that. Percy is our friend as well as yours. I believe that all of us want to know what happened a year ago and if this 'School' will be a further threat to you or Percy or even our camp," Chiron said. He didn't say it unkindly or anything, but it was pushing Kai far beyond her breaking point.

"No," Kai said firmly. Percy could tell that she wanted to say more than that, but she was restraining herself from hurling all her hurt and anger from the School at the kind, old man. Even if her words could be contained, her electricity could not. Sparks began to fly around her body, making several people scramble away.

"Kailani," Percy said, finally regaining his voice. He reached out towards her, unafraid of the electricity.

Kai was trembling now. Percy and Kai always avoided the topic of the School when they were running. It was their taboo.

"I will not, cannot—" Kai broke off abruptly and stalked out of the room.

Percy stared after her sadly. Five years. Kai had lost five years of her life in that place. Kai had always known that she had been in the School for a long time, but when they first broke out and happened to see the date on a local newspaper, Kai had broke.

She didn't cry or anything, but she also didn't talk for days, and it took her a lot of convincing from Percy to get her moving again.

Percy heard a snort and turned to look at the girl with the permanent sneer on her face—Clarisse.

"What a wimp," she taunted.

Anger and defensiveness flared up where there had previously been an empty void. Percy opened his mouth to give an angry retort, but before he could utter a word, another voice interjected its own thoughts.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Peter Johnson. Hasn't even been a day and your already stirring up trouble like always."

Percy snapped his head around. Behind him, another man in a leopard print shirt was making his way into the room.

The man looked a little unsteady as he walked. His feet seemed to refuse to make a straight line. In his right hand, he held a coke and a little of the liquid swished around as the man walked.

The room was silent as the man made his way into the room, so he had no competition to be heard when he spoke again.

"It's been a while hasn't it? A few days, perhaps a couple months? Humph, the time off barely did you any good though. Still the same brash demigod as always I see. I guess that school of yours didn't teach you anything valuable for the time you were there."

The man shook his head like he was disappointed, but Percy had a feeling that the man didn't really care.

"Mr.… D?" Percy muttered. He stopped in surprise. He had no idea where that had come from.

The man gave Percy a lazy look. "Hmm. So you sort of remember me. I guess I should be flattered."

"Mr. D, why are you here?" Annabeth inquired. Percy guessed that the man's presence wasn't normal in these meetings.

"Well," the man drawled, looking at the coke in his hand as if he found it more interesting than the girl talking to him. "As camp director, I am obligated to welcome new campers, but it seems like the girl has already left. That's a pity." His uninterested tone contradicted his last statement.

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence, while Mr. D took a sip of his coke.

Mr. D finally looked up and noticed that all the campers were watching him.

"Well, don't let me interrupt your meeting. Continue," and with that said, Mr. D shuffled out of the room.

Chiron shifted in his seat and turned to Percy.

"I suggest you find your friend, Percy, and turn in for the night. Your cabin is number three. Do you think you can find it?"

Percy nodded. "I think so."

Oddly enough, the sudden appearance of Mr. D had defused the anger that he had been feeling towards Clarisse and it had left him somewhat exhausted.

Chiron returned the nod. "Good night, Percy."

Percy stood and left the room without another word.

* * *

><p>Annabeth watched her former boyfriend leave the meeting room. The emptiness inside seemed to have grown deeper while the distance between them seemed to become wider.<p>

He was here physically, but the Percy she had known wasn't back. The way he had acted tonight was proof of that. He had been quiet and unable to speak, and when he did speak, it was in a barely audible whisper, but Annabeth couldn't really blame him for his strange behavior. According to the little information Kai had revealed, the School had pretty much tortured them. He didn't know who they were, let alone who _he _was, but that knowledge did little to comfort the sullen demigod.

"So," Travis Stoll, co-counselor of the Hermes cabin, broke the silence. "What do we do about Percy?"

Everyone looked at Annabeth as if she had the answers. She only stared dully at the table in front of her.

Chiron answered for her. "There's nothing much we can do for Percy except give him time. The wings are… abnormal for anybody including a demigod—"

"That's stating the obvious," one of the demigods muttered.

Chiron ignored the comment and continued, "But seeing that they are not bothering Percy, we should not bring them up unless he wants to since it seems to be an uncomfortable subject for him and Kailani. The best we can do is to try to help Percy regain his memories."

"He seems to remember some things at random time," Nico put in. "Like when Kai got stuck at the border—Percy let her in without any of our help—and the time with Mr. D—for a moment it seemed like Percy recognized him."

Chiron nodded in appreciation of Nico's input.

"What about the girl?" Jake Mason asked.

"Yeah," another called out. "Rachel is the only human allowed in camp."

"I don't know if she counts as human anymore."

"So what is she? A monster?"

Annabeth scowled at that statement. If they considered the girl a monster, what did they think of Percy now?

Rachel beat her before Annabeth could give a scathing remark.

"So what if Percy and the girl have wings? We've seen weirder things happen to demigods," the oracle said, staring pointedly at the demigod who had made the last comment. Her green eyes flashed in anger and defense for her long-lost friend.

This effectively silenced the group. Rachel may be human, but making the Oracle of Delphi mad was something you definitely did not want to do. The last demigod that got Rachel angry went for a walk in the woods with the oracle and had come back pale and looking like he had seen a ghost. When asked about the experience, he would shake uncontrollably and could only stutter nonsense.

"I think we can trust the girl," Rachel stated in a voice that didn't leave much room for arguments.

"Have you seen something about her," Will Solace asked.

"Not a prophesy," Rachel said. "But I've seen glimpses of her in the future. She's not a threat, and given a chance, I believe she will fit quite nicely into the camp's environment even if she's not a demigod. The gods have not scorned all mortals, you know. Some humans have even been favored as heroes despite their lack of godly blood and Artemis does not discriminate when picking her hunters. Besides, the girl seems to be the only person Percy seems comfortable around at present."

"Where will she stay then?" someone else asked.

"The Hermes's cabin?" Will suggested.

Connor and Travis Stoll exchanged nervous glances. Ever since the Second Titan War, gods easily claimed their children, and the Hermes Cabin had become used to not having to house the random rejects. That fact coupled with the girl's frightening display of electric powers did not sit well with either of the Stoll brothers.

"I think they will figure it out for themselves," Nico said quietly. When everyone turned to look at him, he elaborated. "I doubt they will want to be separated, so if my guess is correct, Kai will just stay with Percy in his own cabin."

"Is that _legal_?" Travis asked, half joking, half serious.

Annabeth couldn't help the slight burning in her cheeks. Only siblings were aloud to be alone in a cabin together. The only exception had been the Hermes Cabin. Percy and Kai were obviously not siblings, and Annabeth couldn't deny the repulsion she felt at the thought of Percy sleeping in the same room as the girl.

"I could offer her a room in the Big House," Chiron spoke up. "But I have a feeling Nico is right. Until things settle down and maybe Percy regains some of his memories, I think it is best to leave the two to do what they feel comfortable with."

That closed that discussion and would have ended the entire evening except for one girl's comment.

"I don't know why you went on that stupid mission, but at least you got something worth while out of it. And what's even more exciting, Percy is now fair game."

Annabeth whirled to face the girl who had spoken up for the first time this evening.

Drew. Counselor of Cabin Ten. Daughter of Aphrodite.

At first, Annabeth was confused. Drew was the one who had pretty much forced the mission on the campers. She was practically on the verge of begging when the counsel had finally agreed to send out a team. But here she had called it a "stupid mission."

Annabeth didn't dwell long on the strange comment because the rest of the girl's words quickly obliterated those thoughts as they became lost in a red haze.

"What do mean, Drew?" Annabeth growled through clenched teeth.

Drew seemed unaffected by the glare she received and simply smiled. "Face it, honey. Percy doesn't remember anything and that includes you. He's fair game."

"Why you—" Annabeth began, and then thought better of it and said, "Percy's memories should be our main concern, not whether or not he is available."

"Worried, Annabeth? Don't get yourself worked up, sweetheart. You still have a shot at him, but there are other girls in this camp, and they have just as much right as you do in this matter," Drew said sweetly.

No one else added to this conversation either because they were affected by Drew's charmspeak or they just weren't stupid.

Annabeth was seething, especially since she realized the daughter of Aphrodite was right. Percy had no idea that they had been together.

Suddenly the vehement anger melted into a heavy sadness as the depressing reality sunk its claws in deeper.

Thankfully, Chiron stepped in before the argument could escalate.

"At the moment, I agree with Annabeth. I think Percy's personal life should not be our top priority. We will work on his memories first, and hopefully with time, they will open up about what this 'School' is and if the camp should be worried about it."

His words were clearly a dismissal, and the counselors quickly filed out of the room.

Chiron sighed. Life as a teacher for demigods never really got easier. He looked back at the sole counselor still in her seat.

"Annabeth," he called softly.

The girl looked at her mentor with empty eyes.

The centaur slid his wheelchair over to where the girl was sitting and slipped his arms around her.

Annabeth was numb. Emotions and memories just swirled into a confusing mass inside her mind, and she was too tired to make any sense of them. The unrecognizing glances Percy gave her burned in front of her vision and Drew's taunting words echoed in her ears.

The demigod didn't cry, but that didn't stop her from clutching to her mentor like he was the last solid thing on earth.

* * *

><p><strong>~Bluesky21543<strong>


	21. Chapter 21: Reintroductions

**Chapter 21 – Reintroductions**

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><p>"So what are you going to do? Hide in here all day? Okay, do that. But what about the day after that?"<p>

Percy groaned and flipped over on the bunk so that his face was now directed towards the ranting Kai.

Last night had been horrible. He wasn't sure if he got any sleep last night… or the night before that. And right now, listening to Kai berate him was the last thing he wanted.

This was the second day of their arrival, and he hadn't left the cabin since he had collapsed on the bed after the horrible meeting in the Big House.

Food wasn't an issue. They still had their packs from when they were on the run, so it could keep them going for a while. Unfortunately, this made Percy less motivated to step outside again.

Being inside took a toll on Kai though. She was getting restless from being stuck in the confined space.

"You know, you can go outside if you want to, but don't expect me to follow," Percy pointed out.

Kai sighed, "I know this is kind of awkward Percy…"

"Just 'kind of,'" Percy muttered into the pillow, but loud enough for Kai to hear.

"Okay, very, a lot, enormously awkward," Kai snapped back. "But we can't live in here forever."

"Go outside if you want to," Percy repeated.

Percy knew Kai wouldn't do that. In here, she was her normal hot-headed, yet caring self (although Percy was starting to seriously doubt that last description). Outside, she jumped from defensive to offensive; her emotions became fragile and strained. She wasn't sure what to make of the strange camp just past the door, so as long as Percy stayed inside, she would not take a step beyond that threshold.

Kai sighed and Percy could hear that she had sat down on the bed opposite of his. He couldn't help but remember how this was what it used to be like. He would sit in one cage, while Kai would inhabit the other directly across from his own.

The memory of the cage itself wasn't all that pleasant, but it did represent the time where they opened up to each other. Nothing too deep was shared since they weren't sure if the Whitecoats were listening, but it had been _their _time to just talk.

"So when are you going to go out?" Kai asked, this time in a softer voice.

Percy sat up so he could face her. "I don't know. When I figure things out."

"You're not going to figure anything out stuck in here," Kai pointed out.

Percy shot her a mock glare, hating the fact that she was right.

Kai just grinned back and then melted back into a frown. "You had all of yesterday to think. You must have figured something out with all the thinking you did."

Percy groaned again. Why wouldn't she leave him alone? If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that she was the one with ADHD.

"Percy, come—" Kai suddenly froze.

Percy sat up, recognizing that look. Forgetting that he was currently in a safe camp and not being chased by Erasers, the demigod reached for Riptide. (1)

"Relax," Kai said. She walked towards the door just when a familiar voice called out.

"Percy?"

* * *

><p>Annabeth stood nervously on the small porch of Cabin Three. Chiron hadn't really ordered her to do this or anything, but the way he had hinted and prodded was enough to get her standing in front of that familiar door again.<p>

At least it was her and not Drew. Annabeth shuddered at that thought.

"Percy?" she called out. She hated that voice. It sounded hesitant and unsure, completely unlike the daughter of Athena that cut monsters down with nothing but a mere dagger.

But then again, this wasn't war. This was worse.

Not more than a few seconds after she first called out, the door swung open.

Immediately, Annabeth started talking, "Percy, I wanted to—Oh…"

The bird-girl—Kailani—stood in the door instead of her former boyfriend.

Annabeth couldn't hold back a scowl when she saw the girl standing inside Percy's cabin.

To her surprise, the girl just glanced at Annabeth and nodded as if the demigod's appearance was a good thing. She wasn't even scowling. Kai just had a thoughtful and slightly frustrated look on her face.

"You're here," she grunted. "Good. Maybe _you _can get him out of bed. He's driving me crazy."

And with that Kai turned and left a vaguely confused Annabeth in the open doorway.

Annabeth hesitated a moment longer before stepping inside. She hadn't been inside for almost a year. She had come in a few weeks after Percy's disappearance, but she had never found the comfort she had sought in the room so she never went back.

Standing in the cabin again she saw that nothing and everything had changed. Bunks still lined both wall; the abalone walls still shone; Tyson's "fish-ponies" still hung gracefully on the ceiling. But it had lost the certain sense of inhabitance. Even though two people now occupied the room, it seemed lonelier than when Percy had stayed in it a year ago. A year's worth of dust had settled over everything; the windows needed a bit of cleaning; even the "fish-ponies" could use some of polishing.

"Annabeth?"

The said demigod swung her gray eyes around to see Percy currently sitting atop his bunk; strangely enough, it was the same exact bed he had used a year ago.

Percy blinked at her and misinterpreted her silence.

"Um… is your name not Annabeth? I'm sorry…" Percy said uneasily.

That snapped Annabeth out of her silent musing. She hated how foreign her name sounded on his tongue, but she forced herself to talk.

"No. No, my name's Annabeth. It's just… it's been a while since I've been in here," Annabeth mumbled uncomfortably.

Once again, they were in an awkward silence.

"Sorry to interrupt this lovely conversation, but do you mind if we take this outside? I've been cooped up in here one day too many," Kai said, her impatience adding a sarcastic bite to her words.

Annabeth gave the girl a strange look. "Why didn't you go outside yourself? No one was keeping you in here."

Annabeth hadn't meant for it to be mean or anything, but something she said must have offended the bird-girl because she broke off Annabeth's gaze and started muttering under her breath.

"Let's just go outside," Percy announced, casting Kai an apologetic glance, which she returned with a scowl.

Annabeth had no idea what that was about, but she quickly obliged in a somewhat dazed state.

"So, um, Annabeth, did you need something?" Percy asked once they were standing on the porch. He still was not looking straight at her.

For once, Annabeth had not planned ahead, so the question had caught her off guard. What was wrong with her today?

Oh, yeah. Her boyfriend came back after a year, but he doesn't remember anything. What's more is that he come back with a _girl _who scowled at everything that breathed. Percy had _wings_ and apparently had been tortured during the year he had been gone. And if that was not bad enough, Drew had basically set her claim on Percy. That was only naming a few things…

Outside her chaotic thoughts, Annabeth forced a smile and said the first thing that came to mind. "I was wondering if you would like to have a tour around the camp. Maybe it'll help your memory."

"Sure," Percy said so softly, Annabeth almost didn't hear it.

Annabeth studied Percy for a bit longer, noticing all the little details that had changed in the past year, inwardly and outwardly.

"Well, are we going to go?" Kai said, impatiently.

Annabeth swung her head to look at the bird-girl she had momentarily forgotten. Switching her gaze between the challenging gaze of the unwelcomed girl and the uncertain one of the amnesiac demigod, Annabeth couldn't help but groan inwardly.

This was going to be awkward.

* * *

><p>"Tell me another one."<p>

Annabeth laughed at the request, glad for the sudden change in the group's mood.

The first few minutes had been worst then getting trapped in the Labyrinth. Annabeth felt lost as she tried to navigate not only through the camp, but also through the gaps that had formed between her and Percy. This had consisted of awkward silences, sideways glances, and uncertain feelings.

Surprisingly, it was Kai who had initiated the abrupt change in the atmosphere. Seeing that the tour wasn't really going anywhere, she had asked Annabeth to tell a story about Percy.

The request had been met with a suspicious look, but Kai had only shrugged at the cold look and said that she liked hearing stories.

Annabeth was slightly taken aback by that statement. Kai didn't really seem to be the kind of person that would sit still to read or hear a story, but it turned out that she was a pretty good listener. She didn't laugh along with Percy and Annabeth, but her face had dropped the scowl to leave a more neutral expression.

So the three teens were currently sitting on Half-Blood Hill as Annabeth shared various stories.

Annabeth thought for a moment and then complied, "There was that time when you first came to camp, and Clarisse—the one with the sneer in the counselor's meeting—" Percy had a pained expression so she continued quickly to avoid that unwanted subject. "—she thought it would be funny to dump your head into the toilet as a sort of welcome."

Percy gave her a hurt look. "Funny? Are you guys normally this cruel to newcomers?"

"You were a special case," Annabeth teased back. "Anyways, she and her siblings were just about to dunk your head into the toilet when you started fighting back. I'm not sure exactly what happened but the next thing I knew you had somehow made the water in the toilets explode and Clarisse and her siblings were literally wiped out the restrooms. You, of course, were perfectly dry." (2)

Percy began laughing again and Annabeth noticed that Kai had actually cracked a smile as she stared down into the valley.

"Clarisse had most priceless expression when she had landed on her butt right outside the bathrooms," Annabeth laughed. "I'm pretty sure she still hasn't completely forgiven you."

The demigod paused to think about each story she had told so far. Most of them were events that had taken place inside the camp. They had ranged from just about everything—eating, training, capture the flag… The only two things she avoided were the Second Titan War and his love life…

"I wish I could remember that," Percy said wistfully.

Both girls stiffened, but then relaxed when no sadness was detected in his voice.

"Do you remember your powers?" Annabeth asked.

Percy nodded. "I kind of found out about them after we left the School. It was kind instinctual, I guess."

They sat for a while in the first _comfortable _silence before Kai's voice broke it.

"Well, I'm going to fly," she said, standing up.

Percy gave her an "are you crazy" look, but Kai brushed it off.

"What? Everybody already knows. And I'm not going to keep them cooped up any longer," she said.

With that, she let her jacket fall to the ground and before Annabeth could fully register the sight of the black wings, Kai was already in the sky.

Annabeth stared in awe. The girl had a certain grace in the air and seemed to move with the winds as her raven wings pumped powerfully through the empty space. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.

"Are you going to join her?" Annabeth asked, barely suppressing her jealousy and disappointment.

To her surprise (and delight), Percy shook his head.

"To be honest, I don't really like flying," the boy admitted.

Annabeth stared at him strangely but let him continue.

"I don't know why, but even though I've had my wings for a year, I can't shake the feeling that I shouldn't be flying," Percy murmured, half to himself. "I guess that sounds kind of weird, huh?"

Annabeth shook her head. "That's actually normal," she said.

Percy sent her a questioning look and she elaborated.

"You're a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three. Naturally the three gods stay out of each other's territory and that rule generally applies to their children. You've only been in a plain once because you can't risk Zeus's wrath." (3)

"That's a comforting thought," Percy muttered. "Why hasn't he shot me out of the sky yet?"

Annabeth thought about it for a moment. "Maybe it's like when you ride Pegasi. (4) It's kind of neutral territory between Zeus and Poseidon. Since your wings are obviously a part of you, I guess maybe Zeus can't completely justify zapping you with his lightning, especially considering that you're the Hero of Olympus."

A burst of laughter cut Annabeth off, and the demigod turned to give Percy an incredulous look as he struggled to regain his breath.

"Sorry," he finally got out. "It just sounded so weird to think that I could be a hero."

Despite the sadness over his lost memories, Annabeth couldn't help smile. "It's all true," she said, a small bit of pride for her friend bubbling inside her. "I could show you some proof if you want to."

Percy shook his head. "No, I believe you," he said, his smile starting to fade. "It's just that… I can't remember it."

With a sudden thought, Annabeth reached up to her neck and undid the second necklace.

"Here," she said, holding out the necklace towards him. "This is yours. Maybe it will help you remember."

Percy accepted the necklace silently and turned it over to inspect each one of the beads with unrecognizing eyes.

The reality of it once again crashed down on the two teens. Annabeth bit her lip and looked away from Percy's pained expression until his quiet voice caught her attention again.

"Um, how… how different am I?" he asked, hesitantly. "I mean, how different am I compared to when I last saw you?"

Swallowing hard, Annabeth considered lying. After struggling for a few more seconds, she relented to the truth. "Very," she barely whispered.

She instantly regretted the word when she saw Percy's face fall. His green eyes became dull and he quickly averted them from her face. Annabeth felt a wall slam down between them again.

They were able to talk for real this time, and that one question had immediately placed them on opposite sides of an abyss again.

Annabeth bit back a cry of frustration and instead steeled her resolve.

Scooting closer to him, Annabeth pushed at the imaginary wall, creating a crack in its solid barrier.

Percy didn't seem to notice and just continued staring at the ground.

The girl risked another few inches. The crack widened.

Annabeth hated that look on Percy's face. It looked lost and broken. Even in the hardest battle, Percy had met them with a determined face that declared his willingness to die for the cause. The boy in front of her now held no trace of the one she had fallen in love with, but that didn't matter.

Annabeth stubbornly pushed past the wall until it crumbled.

She wanted to take his hand, but knew that would be stepping over the line, so she settled for his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Percy," she said quietly, while her hand reached out.

Annabeth hadn't expected the flinch, not from Percy, but looking back, she should have anticipated this kind of reaction.

Her hand had barely brushed his shoulder when his body gave a sharp jerk.

Annabeth snatched her hand back as if she had been burned.

"I—I'm sorry," Annabeth stuttered. "I didn't mean…"

Gods, she sounded so retarded. In this past week, she had become more inarticulate than she had ever been in her entire life!

Percy stared at her hand in confusion as if the appendage was snake about to strike, but had withdrawn its attack at the last second.

His green eyes eventually met hers, and once again, Annabeth was left in a shocked silence as laughter echoed in the forest.

"No, no," Percy chuckled. "Don't apologize. Actually I should say sorry to you. I forgot for a moment who I was with."

Annabeth encouraged Percy to continue with her silence.

"I expected you to hit me," Percy explained.

"Hit you?" Annabeth asked when she finally found her voice again. Did he really think that badly of her?

Percy realized what he had implied and tried to amend it. "It's not like that. You see, when I get depressed, it really irritates Kai, and so she sometimes hits me."

"Wait a second, she hits you?" Annabeth said. She glared out at the distant black speck, her confusion turning to anger, but Percy's laugh distracted her again. Gods, she had really missed his laugh.

"Not hard or anything. Just a good whack to get her point across," Percy clarified. "I don't know why, but for some reason I expected you to react the same way Kai does, but you're a lot nicer."

"I'm a lot nicer?" she whispered. She hadn't meant to repeat those words aloud, but hearing Percy say those words made her previous doubts vanish, even though she had a clinging bit of guilt for all the times she had hit him in the past for being stupid.

"Don't get me wrong. Kai's nice too, but she more… restrained with it," Percy said, staring up at his friend in the sky.

Annabeth found that hard to believe. So far, all she had seen from the girl was a sort of animalistic behavior.

Percy slipped off his jacket suddenly, and all Annabeth could do was stare at _them._

She hadn't seen the wings since the day they had left California, and it hit her in a new wave of wonder and sadness.

"Are you going to join her?" Annabeth again asked quietly, gesturing to the bird-girl in the sky.

Percy shook his head, which greatly relieved his fellow demigod. "I might fly later. I don't really feel like it now, but it's good to let them out to stretch." He glanced sheepishly at Annabeth, noting her gaping looks. "It's kind of uncomfortable keeping them under a jacket all day."

The daughter of Athena forced herself to look away from the gray wings. "You don't have to keep them hidden here all the time," she told him. "Everybody already knows about them."

"I know," Percy answered. "But I guess it's just a habit."

Percy didn't say he was self-conscious about them, but he didn't have to. Even now, Annabeth could read most of his emotions like a book. She was surprised that Percy felt comfortable enough to let his wings out while she was sitting next to him; it made her feel a little honored.

She couldn't help but stare at them again. Being a daughter of Athena, they were irresistibly interesting, and the ADHD and aviator dad wasn't helping her either.

"Can I… can I see your wings?" she asked.

Percy looked at her in faint surprise and then nodded his assent.

Annabeth scooted forward again, and he spread out his wings a bit more so she could see their full length.

Her eyes going over every angle of the wings, Annabeth took in each detail. Their colors were various colors of grey and even had dashes of black and white thrown in there. Mentally, she listed all the different types of feathers as her gaze fell on each one.

She couldn't help herself as her hand stroked the feathers. Percy didn't flinch away, but he did stiffen slightly, making Annabeth hesitate with her fingers just barely touching the silky surface. After a moment, Percy relaxed and Annabeth let her hand finish its journey down the length of the wing.

Leaning back, Annabeth took it all in again.

"They're beautiful," she murmured in awe.

Percy turned his head a bit so he could see her out of the corner of his eyes.

"You really think so?" he asked softly as if dreading and hoping for the answer at the same time.

Annabeth smiled at him. "Yeah, they're breath-taking."

Percy's lips twitched once and then a full grin spread across his features, lighting up his sea-green eyes.

And just for a moment, the world was alright again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So just a little Percabeth for all of you people who keep asking about them. Will they get back together? Who knows… well, I do, but you all will just have to wait and see.**

**(1) Remember, Kai can sense different electric fields when they get close.****  
><strong>**(2) From **_**Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.**__**  
><strong>_**(3) Also from **_**Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. **_**  
><strong>**(4) I checked several sources and many of them said that the plural of "Pegasus" is "Pegasi" so that's what I'm going to use throughout my story.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	22. Chapter 22: Catfight

**Chapter 22 – Catfight**

* * *

><p>"What do you have against her?" Percy asked, while taking a bite of an apple.<p>

It was evening time and the two-bird kids had separated from Annabeth when she headed to the Dining Pavilion while they returned to their cabin to eat. Annabeth had invited them to eat with the rest of the demigods, but Percy still didn't feel comfortable. But then after some urging from Annabeth and a not so very gentle elbow in the gut from Kai, Percy had promised to come the next morning. So he had one night to mentally prepare himself to face his fellow demigods again.

"Who's 'her?'" Kai asked, looking up from her own meal.

"Annabeth," Percy replied.

"I don't have anything against the girl," Kai answered, looking straight at Percy, but he wasn't fooled.

"Then why did you say 'girl' instead of her name?" he countered.

"If you haven't noticed in the past year—" Kai began, but Percy cut her off.

"I know, I know, you're not a people person, but there's something… cold between you and Annabeth. I certainly didn't feel anything like that when you were talking to Nico. Did you guys say something to each other when I left you alone in the woods that time?" Percy asked.

Kai raised an eyebrow, and that's all Percy needed for an answer.

Percy groaned, "What did you guys say?"

"We said lots of stuff," Kai answered vaguely. "But I don't really think that what we said is what's really the big issue here."

"Then what is it?" Percy inquired.

"Girl stuff," Kai said simply.

Percy's eye twitched at the indistinct answers he was getting. "What kind of 'girl stuff?'"

"You know, me being here with you and…" Kai trailed off as she caught sight of Percy's confused look.

"How does you being with me make Annabeth and you so cold towards each other?" he asked.

"You mean you haven't seen it?" Kai questioned.

"Seen what?" Percy nearly yelled in exasperation.

Kai smirked at him. "You're so blind. I'm not going to spell it out for you and I'm really not the one to answer that for you in the first place."

Percy shot her a scathing look at his friend, but it was only disarmed by her calm smile. "If you won't talk with me, then will you talk with Annabeth to work out your 'girl stuff'? I really don't want to see my two friends fighting."

Kai cocked her head questioningly at him. "Do you really consider her your friend?"

Confused, Percy wondered what Kai meant until he realized he had unconsciously called Annabeth his friend. Was she his friend? He barely knew or remembered anything about her. As far as he could recall, he had just met her five days ago. But despite all this, he already felt like he had known her for a long time.

"I guess I do," Percy said softly. He brought a hand up to his forehead as uncertain feelings arose.

Kai just allowed him to sit there in meditative silence.

"So will you talk to her?" Percy finally said. "Try, at least, to make friends with her."

"The key word here is 'try,'" Kai said. "Don't expect some miracle."

Percy smiled, slightly relieved. "Thanks, Kailani."

* * *

><p>Dinner had long since ended, but Annabeth still sat at her table, thinking.<p>

She had been able to talk to Percy today. Of course, there had been some awkward moments, but compared to what the past few days had been, it was a definite improvement, but did that mean anything for their future?

All the "what ifs" of the situation floated around in her mind and created a chaotic mess.

Annabeth sighed, finding the redundant and useless thoughts tiring, and finally stood to leave.

"That's a pretty heavy sigh, honey," an unwelcome voice said.

Stiffening, Annabeth turned to see her least favorite demigod.

In the waning sunlight, Annabeth could easily make out Drew's figure standing confidently only a few feet away.

"Did you want something, Drew?" Annabeth asked, constraining any ill feelings. Maybe Drew had just left something in the Dining Pavilion and had happened to catch Annabeth here as well.

The next declaration smashed that fantasy.

"Are you still holding on to that illusion that Percy will remember you?" Drew purred with acid sweetness.

"Percy will remember," Annabeth said with all the firmness she possessed, but in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if her words were trying to convince Drew or herself.

Drew only smiled. "If you want my opinion honey, I think his memories are long gone. And I think it's high time he made some new ones."

Annabeth's mind burned with anger at the implications of that statement, but before she could make an angry retort, a voice injected its own thoughts.

"That's really depressing, you know. 'His memories are long gone?' What kind of crap is that?" the voice said as its owner came into sight. "And if you want _my _opinion, I think Percy is well on his way to remembering."

Relying on her demigod battle instincts, Annabeth's hands went to her dagger, but the bird-girl raised her hands to show she had no weapon.

"Hey watch it," Kai said. "I really don't feel like getting into a fight."

Annabeth reluctantly let go of the hilt, but that didn't stop her from glaring daggers at the girl. To her annoyance, the girl actually smirked calmly back as if you say "You can't scare me with a pathetic look like that."

"Why are you here?" Drew asked haughtily.

"I could ask you the same question," Kai shot back easily.

If Annabeth wasn't still mad at the girl for standing between her and Percy during that time in the woods, she would have laughed at the miffed look Drew now had as a result of the bird-girl's reply.

"Annabeth and I were just having a chat," Drew said, trying to not let the other girl get on her nerves.

"Yeah, I heard that," Kai said coolly. She looked at Drew in interest. "Daughter of Aphrodite, right? Goddess of Love. You think you actually have a shot at Percy?"

Drew laughed as if that was a dumb question. "Of course! I would hardly consider you or Annabeth competition."

"Competition?" the girl snorted with a smirk on her face. "You really think I'm interested in Percy? You must either be really paranoid or just stupid if you think that."

Annabeth felt her anger rise when she realized the bird-girl's first description had fit her. Was she paranoid about losing Percy? But didn't she have a right to concerned about her own boyfriend? Then again, was he still her boyfriend after his memory loss?

Her last mental question did not help the demigod's disposition when she realized that it lined up with Drew's previous claim that Percy was now eligible to pick a new girl.

Annabeth was so wrapped in her thoughts that she had missed the fuming retort Drew had given. In the bit of moonlight, Annabeth could see the angry red tint on the other demigod's face. And she couldn't help but like it.

Realizing that she had lost her cool composure, Drew took in a calming breath and replaced her scowl with a smile that spelled danger. "I guess you were smart to back off Percy," she said in that sickly sweet voice.

Kai tilted her head in question but didn't bother interrupting.

"I could see Percy would never be interested in a girl like you," she started and then broke off to let her gaze pass up and down the girl in front of her. "Because I don't think anybody would even think about taking a second glance at a girl as plain as you."

Annabeth felt a flash of anger. Although she didn't like the girl all that well, the insult was uncalled for, but looking at the bird-girl, Annabeth couldn't help feel a tad bit guilty as she agreed with Drew's statement. The girl wasn't anything special besides her strange eyes. She was average, not ugly, but also not a girl that would turn many heads either.

Feeling angry at herself for agreeing with Drew, Annabeth decided to speak up, but Kai beat her too it.

"You're saying I'm not much to look at," the girl stated evenly.

The quiet voice surprised Annabeth when she had expected a torrent of rage, but a second take showed an underlying hint of a threat.

The bird-girl's eyes flashed with something. Annabeth couldn't tell if it was anger or hate or what, but it definitely did not bode well for the daughter of Aphrodite.

Kai copied Drew's previous action and observed the opposing girl. Then after finishing her examination, she said, "I can really say the same of you."

There was a shocked silence then—

"WHAT?" the furious demigod shrieked, losing whatever haughty attitude she had pulled off a few minutes ago.

Annabeth was also shocked, not expecting this answer from the girl. She had been waiting for Kai to fly at Drew with electricity sparking in her hands. She knew from experience that, that was what Drew had also expected and wanted. The daughter of Aphrodite had been trying to push Kai to the edge until she attacked her. An action like that would have gotten the bird-girl in serious trouble and probably would have earned Percy's disappointment.

But Kai did none of thee above and continued talking in the quiet, dangerous voice. "You're not much to look at," she clarified bluntly. "You're stuck-up, self-centered, and rude. I would go on, but I think you get the point. If I was a guy, I wouldn't give you so much as a second glance, and knowing Percy, he definitely would not be one to even consider someone as shallow as you."

Annabeth wanted to laugh at the livid rage apparent in Drew's face. No amount of charmspeak could overcome an insult like that.

Drew tried to laugh lightly, but it sounded half strangled. "We'll just have to see about that won't we, sweetheart?"

Kai bristled and snapped, "Don't call me 'sweetheart' unless you feel like getting zapped."

Electricity now danced around Kai's body, threatening to lash out at the closest person. By coincidence, that person happened to be Drew.

The daughter of Aphrodite took a step back, but then said with a little more confidence, "I believe the choice is up to Percy, not you. And if he's smart, then I think I know the person he'll choose."

Hearing Drew talk as if she knew everything about Percy made Annabeth furious, and she drew her dagger allowing it to flash wickedly.

Drew laughed as if Annabeth had drawn out a toy. "I'll see you all tomorrow," she said easily and with that, turned away and sauntered back to the cabins.

Kai's electricity died down and Annabeth sheathed her weapon; both still seethed at the retreating figure.

Annabeth looked at Kai and saw that the bird-girl had a look that could rival one of Clarisse's glares.

"She's such a—"

"Yeah," Annabeth sighed. "I know." Not for the first time, Annabeth wished that Selena was still alive and leading the Aphrodite cabin instead of Drew.

The two girls stood there in silence, momentarily united in their hatred towards a certain demigod.

"So why are you really here?" Annabeth asked. She still didn't like the girl, but after seeing her make Drew lose her cool even for a second, Annabeth was a little more willing to talk to the girl without gutting her.

Kai turned back to Annabeth so she could see those curious violet eyes. "Percy wanted me to talk to you. He says I have a hard time connecting with people," she said indifferently.

Annabeth could easily believe that statement, especially with the long awkward pause that followed.

For a moment, Annabeth allowed a warm feeling to spread through her body. If Percy wanted Kai to get along with her, then he really still liked her even if he didn't remember her. It was a small gesture, but it was something, and being the strategist she was, Annabeth was going to take full advantage of this.

"So, um," Annabeth started. Obviously, the girl was not going to initiate the conversation, so Annabeth asked the first question that came to mind. "So why did you connect so easily with Percy?"

The other girl shrugged so the feathers on her back gave a slight rustling sound. "We both have different theories—Percy and I. He thinks it's because of our slight telepathic link."

Annabeth blinked in confusion, and tried not to let her bubbling jealousy overflow. Despite the girl's claim of not being romantically involved with her boyfriend, Annabeth did not feel comfortable with this information. "You have a telepathic link?" she asked, her words barely restraining her annoyance and anger, but the bird-girl seemed to have picked it up anyways.

"Yep!" she said with a smirk that made Annabeth want to smack her. But before Annabeth could get out any sort of retort, Kai continued with a thoughtful look, "Actual we just kind of figured it out. You know, with Percy just finding out he's the son of Poseidon and all."

The bird-kid's words squashed the anger for a moment as confusion took its place. "Wait," Annabeth said. "Your telepathic link is _because_ Percy is the son of Poseidon. He can only telepathically talk to horses and fish and you're part bird so—"

"He can talk to horses?" Kai interrupted. "That's pretty cool. I would imagine that you could have a lot better conversation with a horse than you can with a fish… Anyways, back to what I was saying, Percy can talk to fish, yeah, but he can also talk to just about _any _sea creature…" The girl trailed off unwilling to finish her sentence, but the daughter of Athena easily picked up right where she left off.

"He can talk to any sea creature," Annabeth repeated; then it suddenly clicked. "Your electricity! If you're not an offspring of Zeus then it's not possible for you to be able to have electric powers, but you do, and you said that, that was because you needed it to power your wings, so if you're not a daughter of Zeus, then you're part… eel?"

Annabeth stopped her long speech to catch her breath, and when she looked up, she saw something she had never expected to see. Despite the darkness of the night, Annabeth was certain that the other girl's face was covered in a red blush. Annabeth smiled when she realized she had hit a soft spot

"So what if I'm part eel?" the girl spat back, desperately trying to back into a shadow to hide her crimson face.

Annabeth smile widened. The blush proved that there were a lot of things below the hard mask the bird-girl had previously shown her.

"Nothing," Annabeth finally said nonchalantly when she finally trusted her voice not to crack with the amusement she was feeling. "It just explains a few things."

Kai scowled at Annabeth's still evident enjoyment of her embarrassment.

Despite herself, Annabeth couldn't help liking the girl a tiny bit more. The blush made her seem more real, more down-to-earth than she had previously conceived from their first meeting.

Kai seemed to sense that the ice between them was cracking just a little so she allowed her scowl to lessen although it didn't completely leave her face.

"So what was your theory of why you connected so easily to Percy?" Annabeth asked after a moment of silence. It was getting easier to talk to the girl.

The bird-girl was quiet for a moment, and then spoke, "I think it's because of the expression he had when he first woke up after the operation. The day he realized he had wings and couldn't remember his past… I had a younger brother, you know…"

Annabeth was confused again. The last sentence seemed to have come out of the blue, but she allowed the girl to talk.

"He was the cutest thing…" the bird-girl continued, her eyes getting a glazed look. Annabeth surprise grew even further. The girl was now speaking with a softness that contrasted vastly with the stiffness her voice usually possessed. This added to the evidence of Annabeth's previous observation that there was more to the girl underneath the scowling and frowns.

"He was—is five years younger than me, and when he was born, he was just about the greatest thing that had happened to my family because a few years before, my mom had, had a miscarriage," Kai narrated, still talking in that soft voice. "Each year, my family visited that grave of the stillborn baby, and when my brother was five, we took him for the first time."

Kai paused, remembering the event.

"He was so young, so he couldn't understand. We tried to explain the meaning of the headstone and the kid that was lying underneath, but he couldn't understand. I remember my brother had turned to me and asked me something. I don't remember what he said, but I remember the look. His eyes looked lost. He could feel the sadness, but he couldn't understand it. His eyebrows were knit together as if he was trying to remember the event that he had no hope of remembering," Kai said, looking back straight into Annabeth's eyes. "That's what I saw in Percy that day."

Annabeth and the girl stood in silence for a while, allowing for the echoes of the story to be carried off into the wind.

Looking back at the bird-girl, Annabeth could see a distant look. "Why did you tell me that?" she asked. The story was personal and a lot more than what Annabeth expected to hear.

The girl shrugged, "I dunno. It just kind of came out. I guess it was partly for Percy. I promised that I'll at least try to like you, and the only way I can do that is if I speak openly with you."

Annabeth blinked. She had just seen too different sides of the girl that seemed to have come out of nowhere. A shy, embarrassed girl who used harsh words to cover it up. And an open teenager who had a knack for telling stories.

"So…" Annabeth started, not entirely sure how to respond to that. "Does that mean you trust me?"

Shrugging again, Kai said, "Trust takes time to build. As of right now, I just don't hate you." The biting hardness was once again coming back into the bird-girl's voice, brushing aside any softness that lingered.

Annabeth looked at her incredulously. "Thanks. I guess I don't hate you either. But that still doesn't answer my question about why you opened up to me like you did. And I don't think it was just because of Percy."

"Percy's a good judge of character. I, on the other hand, am a good judge of a fighter."

Annabeth blinked at the strange reply, wondering why the girl always seemed to respond with an answer that seemed to have nothing to do with the question, but she once again kept her mouth shut, figuring that the girl would eventually get around to her point.

Kai pointedly looked over Annabeth, her eyes missing nothing. "You use a dagger for your primary weapon. If you're confident enough to use that, you have to be fast and smart. Also you're a daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. A brain is much more deadly in a fighter than brawn. I have way too many enemies between monsters, Whitecoats, and Erasers, so I guess I would much rather be your ally than your enemy. And besides, I don't hate you either."

Smiling, Annabeth had to agree with the girl's logic. "We'll see if this alliance holds," Annabeth responded in the voice of an army's commander.

Kai looked up at the dark sky and said, "I'm going to head back unless you have any other questions."

Annabeth snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head.

The duo began to walk towards the cabins together, the silence stretching out between them.

"Um," Annabeth began awkwardly. After seeing all the differently sides of Kai tonight, she wasn't exactly sure how to act. "Thanks for sharing that. I guess all those memories must be…"

"They are," Kai confirmed, mirroring Annabeth's awkward tone. "But sharing them… sharing them helps relieve some of it, so I guess thanks for listening."

They continued a few more steps before Kai spoke again.

"By the way, don't tell Percy anything I said. He'll probably chew me out if he knew that I thought of him like a brother."

"I don't know," Annabeth said. "If Percy is still like anything I used to know him as, I think he would be flattered. He has a brother that he's pretty close to, but I won't tell…" Then as an evil afterthought, Annabeth added, "Eel-girl."

Kai immediately tensed at the new nickname, and she lashed out to where Annabeth was only to find the demigod a safe distance away with a mocking smile on her face.

"You're dead!" the bird-girl yelled, and the catfight ensued.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Meow. (=^.^=) Probably not the catfight you were expecting, right? I was actually surprised about how mature most of this came out, but then again, Raven and Annabeth are about 18 so they should act more like adults.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	23. Chapter 23: You Again

_**Italics – **_**flashbacks or thoughts**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23 – You Again<strong>

* * *

><p>Percy stared at the sight in front of him. There was no doubt about who had caused it. Actually there were two people who had caused it, and one of the culprits was currently rubbing out the sleep from her eyes behind him.<p>

"Kai," Percy called over his shoulder, his voice holding a warning tone. "What is this?"

"I can't tell what the heck you're talking about unless you move your big, fat body!" came the reply in an irritated voice.

Percy could tell that his roommate had not gotten enough sleep since she was already snapping at him this early in the morning, and he had a pretty good idea of what she was doing last night.

Moving aside, Percy gestured at the torn up land in front of the cabins.

The grass area in front of the cabins was not meant to be a combat area, so the ground was consequently torn up by an obvious skirmish. Grass was trampled; there were conspicuous holes (some of which looked suspiciously like a dagger had created them); and strange burn marks (which might have been caused by electricity) could be seen here and there. Briefly, Percy wondered how no one had been woken up when this fight had occurred.

Kai finally appeared at the doorway, and took in the scene with tired eyes.

"What?" she asked as if she did not see anything out of the ordinary.

Percy gave her a disbelieving look. "What were you doing last night?" he demanded.

"Talking with Annabeth like you asked me to," she answered easily. Percy noted that Kai had actually used the demigod's name this time, but brushed aside the tiny detail.

"Then what's this?" he finally asked when it was obvious Kai was purposefully avoiding his point.

Casually, Kai allowed her gaze to peruse the area like one would a magazine, and then she returned her tired look back to the person who had woken her up from her slumber.

"It's evidence that we solved our differences," she answered with no trace of bitterness or anger. In fact, she answered as if it was normal to find the aftermath of a battle scene right outside your window.

Percy opened his mouth to respond, but—

"Hey, Percy! Hey, Kai!"

Percy jumped slightly when Annabeth appeared next to him with no warning. He looked at the girl, still feeling slightly awkward at her sudden closeness, but the scene before him demanded his full attention at the moment.

"Hey, Annabeth," he returned, and once again gestured towards the ravaged land. "Maybe you can explain what this is."

Annabeth looked out with the same unsurprised expression as Kai.

"Kai and I had a talk last night," she said simply. "Breakfast is soon. We should get going, Seaweed Brain."

The sound of the nickname brought up unexpected feelings. To Percy, this was the first time hearing it, but for some reason, it had a sense of familiarity.

"Nicknames," Kai muttered behind Percy. He hadn't seen her leave, but the bird-girl was now dressed in black jeans, a purple shirt, and a black jacket identical to his own. (1)

"What?" Annabeth said innocently with a glance at Kai. "You don't like nicknames?"

Kai growled at the demigod, and Percy was afraid she was going to start a fight that would most likely imitate the events of last night.

But Kai only turned and began to walk away with Annabeth following.

Baffled, Percy followed after the two girls towards the Pavilion.

"Oh," Annabeth said, turning to Kai. "Chiron says we have to clean up our mess. He doesn't want to leave all those holes around."

Kai nodded. "Yeah, I expected that. But it was worth it to see all those moves you pulled off last night."

Annabeth smiled at the compliment. "Not bad yourself. If you had few more years of training like me, I think you might have at least stood a chance at winning."

"Stood a chance?" Kai scowled.

Percy tensed waiting for some scathing remark, but Kai simply turned her attention back to avoiding a small hole.

"I believe last night was a tie," Kai finished, her voice holding its normal bite, but not escalating any further than that.

Percy blinked in confusion as he watched the two girls continue their conversation in a, if not friendly, at least comfortable ease.

_Girls, _he thought to himself with a slight scoff. He didn't understand them.

They reached the Pavilion and saw that they arrived a little late since everyone was already seated.

Percy blinked at the many people seated at the various tables.

_It looks a lot more crowded than I remember… _Percy silently mused, and then tensed when he realized what he just thought.

_Remember…_ Percy tried to latch on to whatever had brought about that thought, but as soon as he reached out, it skittered out of his grasp, leaving that empty hole and solid wall in its wake.

Percy growled lowly so that only Kai heard it.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

Looking down to meet her purple eyes, Percy pushed the small incident into the back of his mind. "Nothing," he said.

As always, Kai gave his a strange look but didn't push him to explain his obvious lie.

It was then Percy realized that the Dining Pavilion had quieted down considerably and pretty much every single pair of eyes were now trained on the trio standing at the entrance.

Percy instinctively ducked his head in hopes that he would draw less attention to himself. It didn't really work.

Kai and Annabeth openly glared until the majority of the room took the hint and went back to eating, although some kids still cast stray glances towards the three.

"This way," Annabeth said, motioning with her hand.

She led Percy and Kai to one of the empty tables in the front and sat down. (2)

Percy noticed that Kai was casting nervous glances at the other kids, and when one of them met her gaze, her face would twist into a nasty sneer that would make the kid turn away in haste.

"Relax, Kai," Percy ordered. "No one here is going to attack you."

Kai shot him a glare that looked half-petrified and half-hateful. An odd combination.

"They're not going to attack us, right?" Percy added, turning to Annabeth.

"No, you're safe here. Except maybe one of the Ares kids might try something, but the last time we had a food fight Chiron forbade challenges in the Dining Pavilion. They can only attack you outside of here," she answered easily.

Strangely enough, the explanation was both comforting and disconcerting. What did she mean by "challenges?"

Percy pushed aside his own uneasiness and returned to chastising Kai. "See. Nothing to worry about."

"Right," Kai said, looking unconvinced, but something distracted her from making any sort of retaliation.

Percy turned to see what had caught his friend's attention.

Women in wispy dresses and with a green tint to their skin were walking around carrying platters of food and delivering them to the various tables.

"What are they?" Kai breathed, staring curiously at the woman who placed down a plate full of different cheeses and fruits.

The woman giggled and started to play with a lock of hair that had fallen loose out of Kai's ponytail. She must have been fascinated by its extremely long length that rivaled the measure of her own green hair.

Kai jerked back when she felt a tug and sent an accusing glare that caused the woman who abruptly drop the piece of hair she had been inspecting and move away quickly. The woman mumbled something Percy didn't catch, but he guessed it was some sort of apology.

He nudged Kai to draw her scowl away from the poor woman.

"Don't be rude," he told Kai. "She was just curious about your hair."

"She surprised me," Kai hissed back defensively.

"They usually don't mean any harm," Annabeth put in. "They're dryads, the spirits of the trees. They don't really have any personal boundaries since their trees are normally interlocked closely in the forest."

Kai scowled at the girls in green. "Then I'll make a note to stay away from them. Unlike them, I have a personal bubble, and I rather not have it invaded."

"Come on, Skai. Are you going to growl at everyone in this camp?" Percy asked, poking her playfully. (3)

Kai slapped his hand away and responded. "Maybe I will. And what's with you guys and nicknames?"

Annabeth started laughing for some reason Percy didn't know or understand, while Kai sent a death glare at the giggling demigod.

"Your name's too long," Percy said, really finding no other reason beyond that.

Kai scowled at him but let it go and began to pile food onto her plate.

"So what's up with Kai?" Annabeth whispered to Percy.

The bird-kid sent her a questioning glance. "About the nicknames? I don't know. I guess she doesn't like them."

"No, not that. I already figured that one out," Annabeth said with a knowing smirk, making Percy once again wonder over the mysterious exchanges between the bird-girl and demigod last night. "I was talking about her mood today… and all the rest of the days, but especially since she's come to camp. Is she normally this snappy?"

Percy cast a wary glance at Kai to make sure she couldn't overhear them. Kai didn't really like talking about this subject, but as long as she didn't hear him, he guessed it was okay to confide with Annabeth. The demigod didn't seem nosy or anything, just appropriately curious and deserving of an explanation.

"She really doesn't like crowds," he whispered back when he was sure Kai was too preoccupied to overhear them.

"Yeah, I figured that," Annabeth said with a look that said "duh."

"No, I mean she_ really _doesn't like crowds," he said, starting to wonder if it was a good idea to share such confidential information with a girl he had only met a few days ago.

The understanding light in Annabeth's eyes made him relax slightly. The look wasn't condescending, but rather open-minded and a little curious.

"She's agoraphobic," she murmured.

"What?" Percy said a little too loudly, but Kai still wasn't paying attention to them, so he wasn't overheard. "Ago-what?" He couldn't even pronounce the word.

"Agoraphobic," Annabeth repeated. "She's afraid of public places."

"Yeah," Percy said, still unsure over talking about Kai like this. If she found out, she was going to kill him. "Something like that. Just don't mention that to Kai. She gets touchy about that among other things."

Annabeth nodded and began to get some food.

Percy followed suit, and when both bird-kids had their plate filled, Annabeth stood up and motioned for both of them to follow her.

Exchanging bewildered glances, Kai and Percy shrugged and followed, making sure to grab their plates like Annabeth had done.

The girl stopped at a brazier where a bunch of other kids where throwing in a portion of their food.

"They're making a sacrifice to the gods," Annabeth explained before either one of them could question the odd actions.

Percy expected Kai to make some sarcastic remark, but the bird-girl only nodded as if she had expected this.

When their turn had come, Percy scraped in a bit of his meat.

Watching the meat burn, Percy prayed.

_Um, hey, um… Dad. Poseidon. _Percy stopped, feeling slightly awkward about talking to some father he could never remember meeting. _I'm back if you haven't noticed, but I kind of need your help with, um, remembering…_

Beyond that, Percy was unsure about what to say, so he just stopped and added a clump of grapes for good measure.

When he turned to leave, he caught sight of Kai just staring into the flames. A concentrated, thoughtful look took place of her normal scowl. She almost looked… peaceful.

Whatever daze she had been in, Kai snapped out of it and made her way back towards the table without a glance at Percy.

About halfway though the meal, Percy and Annabeth's easy conversation (Kai was still acting weird so she didn't add much) was interrupted by—

"Pppppeeeeeerrrrrcy!"

The said demigod whipped his head around and managed to catch sight of something before it rammed into him.

The thing that had surprised Percy was now bleating and wrapping its arms around him in a tight embrace.

Percy heard Kai cry out and turned to see Annabeth lay a hand on her shoulder, stopping any assault from bird-girl. Kai flinched slightly at the touch, but thankfully stayed in her seat.

"Grover, I think that's a bit much, especially considering you-know-what," Annabeth informed whoever was hugging Percy.

Kai snorted. "Like you're one to talk. If I recall correctly, you did the exact same thing if not with a little more exuberance."

Annabeth glared at the girl, but Kai flippantly ignored it and went back to eating since the person hugging Percy apparently posed no threat.

The unknown person untangled himself from Percy, looking somewhat apologetic.

"S-sorry, Percy. I kind of forgot when I saw you. It's been so long," the person said—no, bleated—nervously.

The first things that Percy noticed were the goat legs that the person (if he could be called that) had. His fuzzy hindquarters were shifting anxiously under Percy's gaze. Going upwards, Percy took in the dirty orange t-shirt and curly mass of dark brown hair that had little horns sticking out. Percy immediately knew that the person in front of him was a satyr. The bird-kid had already seen several hanging around Mr. D, so it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Hey, don't worry about it, G-man," Percy said, trying to calm the satyr's obvious nervousness.

Annabeth and Grover's eyes widened at the nickname, even Kai paused for a second, but Percy didn't notice. In fact, he barely noted the nickname that had easily slipped out of his mouth.

"How—how much do you remember, Percy?" Grover asked.

The boy shrugged. "Nothing really. Bits and pieces here and there," he muttered. He decided he didn't like where the conversation was going, so naturally, he abruptly changed the topic. "Have you met Kai?"

Percy pointed to his friend who was, not surprisingly, scowling again.

"Kailani," the girl snapped, still evidently irritated about something (Percy couldn't really tell what since she had pretty much woken up grumpy). She switched her gaze to Grover and said, "The name's Kailani, but if you must, you can call me 'Kai' since Percy seems so darn persistent, but nothing more and nothing less." The last comment came with a pointed glare at Annabeth who just took it with a smile.

The satyr nodded. "Grover," he reintroduced himself. "I heard some things about you. Are you like Percy?"

Kai cocked her head to one side. "If you're talking about the memory loss, then no, but if you're referring to wings, then yeah."

Grover opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by someone across the room who was clearing his throat loudly. Surprisingly, the room full of rambunctious kids, quieted within seconds.

Casting a look at the man who had cleared his throat, Grover took a hasty seat at Percy's table.

Mr. D was standing at a table, looking bored and slightly out of it. He had another coke in his hands and opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, hello again," the god drawled, making it clear he didn't not wish to be talking to a bunch of kids at the moment. "I guess I have to make a few announcements. This Friday is capture-the-flag like usual. You all know the rules. If you don't, that's Chiron's job to explain. And welcome back to you, Peter Johnson."

The god raised his coke like he was trying to make a half-hearted toast. Mr. D made a motion to sit down, but Chiron's whispers made him reluctantly get up again.

"Oh, yes, yes," the god muttered. "Welcome to Kaitlin." More whispers from Chiron made Mr. D hesitate. "Kailani, our newest camper. Whoop-dee-doo. You really shouldn't be here since you're not a demigod and all, but I guess you're not really that different from the rest of these brats. So stay, leave, do whatever you want." And with that encouraging note, the god sat down heavily, signaling the end of his speech.

"Thanks," Kai muttered. "I feel so welcomed."

"At least he got your name right," Percy mumbled back. "Even if he did need help from Chiron."

"Mr. D's always like that," Grover said. "Just don't let him get to you."

"Like I would let an idiot like him get to me," Kai snorted.

"Don't talk about Mr. D like that!" Grover yelped, sending a nervous glance at the camp director's table. "He is a god."

Kai still didn't look all that impressed or worried, but at least she kept her mouth shut.

Trying to move the conversation away from the sensitive subject, Annabeth said, "So Grover, where were you? I was expecting you to be here at the beginning of breakfast."

"Oh!" Grover exclaimed. "I had some stuff to take care of… you know… the, umm…"

Understanding dawned in the demigod's eyes, and she nodded almost solemnly.

"Did you explain everything?"

"The best I could. I mean, I don't know everything, but I told her everything I knew."

"So she's here?"

"Not yet, but today."

"Do you think it's okay? It is kind of soon."

"I don't know. You would know best."

"But—"

"Oh, don't mind us," Kai suddenly interjected. "We're just a couple of bricks in the wall apparently. Any time you wish to include us in your conversation is fine. Please just ignore us sitting here."

Grover nearly jumped at Kai's loud, sarcastic remarks and began bleating apologizes.

"Kai," Percy sighed. She really didn't get enough sleep last night… Instead of reprimanding his friend, he turned his attention to his fellow demigod. "Do you mind explaining?"

Annabeth looked a little uncomfortable.

"Well… Grover was late because he went to inform someone about us finding you again, and as expected, she'll be coming here to see you."

Percy tipped his head to one side questioningly. "Who?"

Annabeth met his gaze so he could clearly make out her stormy gray eyes. "Your mom."

* * *

><p>To say that Percy was nervous would be a gross understatement.<p>

How are you supposed to react to a mom who you don't even remember?

Percy knew that it wasn't really his fault, but he couldn't help the bit of guilt that trickled into his mind. He couldn't remember his own mom. He had seen the way Annabeth flinched or gave him sad looks. He couldn't imagine how his mom would react.

He was a total wreck.

And the girl right next to him wasn't helping at all.

Kai was seething nearby, but she wasn't the girl he was having issues with at the moment.

It was actually a certain dark-haired, make-up covered demigod whose perfume was overwhelming his senses right now. Whatever was in it was not helping his ability to think straight.

Whenever the thought about reminding the demigod of personal space came up, her weird little purring voice would distract him and he found himself unwillingly agreeing with whatever she had to say.

Percy was sure that if there were not the risk of hitting him, Kai would have burned the girl into a crisp right now. And no matter how much distance he tried to put between them, he always found her closing the gap in a few quick seconds.

In the back of his confused mind, Percy could make one coherent thought—Drew was one scary demigod.

"How about you come and talk with me when you're done, Percy?" she cooed for the hundredth time. "I'm sure I could help you regain some of your memories."

Percy had already rejected several of her previous offers, but after every time, he found it harder to disagree with whatever she said. Maybe she could help him regain some of his memories… what could a few minutes hurt?

"I—I really need to get to the Big House," Percy said, struggling to find his voice.

"What a great idea," Kai said through gritted teeth. "Let's go."

"But you haven't given me a straight answer," Drew pouted.

She flipped her hair, and once again, the designer perfume made it really hard to think.

"What do you say? Just a little talk between you and me?" Her voice seemed to be coated with honey, and Percy really couldn't deny…

"No."

The second voice jerked Percy out of whatever trance he had been under. Snapping back his head, the son of Poseidon took several steps back in retreat while trying to clear his thoughts.

Annabeth stepped forward. It was pretty clear that she was doing her best not to blow up at any second.

"Bye, Drew," Annabeth said curtly without any explanation of the demigod's dismissal.

Drew just smiled, gave a small wave to Percy, and sauntered off.

Percy shook his head in hopes to further clear away whatever had made it so foggy.

When he lifted his head again, he noticed that Annabeth was shooting glares at Drew's retreating figure and Kai had a deadly scowl set on her face.

"So, are we going to go?" he asked.

At the sound of his voice, both girls directed their glares at him, making him flinch.

Annabeth muttered something and turned towards the Big House with Kai following a few steps behind.

Percy watched them walk off for a few seconds before trailing behind.

Somehow he had managed to piss off two _very _powerful girls. Great…

Now on top of seeing his mom who he didn't remember, two girls were probably going to kill him for some unknown reason.

Why did the universe seem to hate him?

When they entered the Big House, Annabeth seemed to have calmed down from whatever had happened outside. Kai must have been picking up his feelings because she wasn't scowling as hard now.

"Are you okay, Percy?" Annabeth asked, finally noticing his worried expression.

"Not really," he mumbled.

He had never really been so acutely aware of his lack of memories and his wings before now. Sure, revealing himself to the campers had been awkward, but it had happened so fast that he didn't have time to process a lot of it. But in this situation, his ADHD mind had had enough time to give him a mental breakdown.

"She's just on the other side of the door whenever you're ready," Annabeth murmured before withdrawing to give him space to think.

Percy stared at the door. A hand squeezed his shoulder, and when he turned, he managed to catch a brief glimpse of Kai's smile before she frowned again, but it had been enough.

Stepping forward, Percy reached for the doorknob.

* * *

><p><strong>One Year Ago<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.<em>

_Sally Jackson's foot tapped anxiously in time with the sound of the clock._

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

_The woman wasn't normally a very violent person, but she was just about ready to throw the thing out the window._

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

_She bit her lip, wishing that Paul was here right now to—_

_A sound startled her, breaking her train of thought, but she quickly recovered and snatched the phone up before it had even finished the first ring._

_She heard breathing on the other side, but no voice offered anything._

"_Hello?" Sally asked hesitantly._

"_Mrs. Jackson?" a voice answered, echoing the strain that Sally's had also articulated. _

"_Annabeth, have they—is he—" Sally broke off, not sure what she was trying to ask._

_Her clock began to chime, signaling the end of one hour and the beginning of the new._

_Bong._

_Bong._

_Bong._

_Three._

_Three weeks._

_He had always had a bad habit of randomly disappearing, but this was different. He had been kidnapped and according to the girl on the phone, it hadn't even been by monsters… they weren't sure who had her son. Besides that, whenever he vanished for one reason or another, Percy managed to contact her in some way, shape, or form. It may take days, weeks or months even, but somehow Sally knew that no call was going to be coming from her son any time soon._

_The ticking began again._

_Three._

_Three going on four._

_The voice—Annabeth's—interrupted Sally's counting, which she had been doing subconsciously. "I'm sorry. We haven't found anything, Mrs. Jackson."_

_The girl sounded tired, broken._

_Sally briefly wondered how someone so young could sound so old in just two sentences._

"_He'll be back," Sally said. She didn't know where the sudden confidence came from, but the sound of Annabeth's haunted voice made the older woman suddenly protective of not only her missing son, but also of the girl on the other side of the line. "He'll come back."_

_Sally spoke with more confidence than she felt and something in those words convinced at least a part of herself. Unfortunately, it did not seem like the same could be said for the girl on the other side of the phone._

"_I'll be sure to keep you updated on anything we find," the young demigod sighed._

_Annabeth seemed ready to end the conversation right there, but Sally's voice added one more thing._

"_Could you come over, Annabeth?" she asked. "I have something for you."_

_Annabeth seemed confused by the statement, but she said that she would be over there the next morning._

_Hanging up the phone, Sally let out a choked breath that she had been holding in. She forced herself to breathe through her nose in order to avoid any sob that might follow._

_Sally looked at the object she had been rubbing between her fingers for the last hour or two. She shifted the beads in her hands almost as if they were rosary._

_She clutched the object to her chest before bringing the object up to her eyes so that she could observe each bead for the thousandth time._

_Each one held a bit of his story and therefore a bit of himself._

_He'll come back…_

_The words echoed back in the almost empty apartment._

_Percy_, Sally Jackson prayed. _Please come back…_

* * *

><p><em>You came back…<em>

Sally Jackson stared at the door, the barrier between herself and her son.

_Thank the gods you came back…_

"I'm okay," she voiced to the empty room.

Sally wanted to burst through the door, and find her son, but he needed to find his own way in here. She had heard everything from Chiron—the wings, the lost memories, the School…

She had, had her time to cry, but now was the time to be strong.

"I'm okay," she said, this time with more confidence.

She registered the small click and the creak that betrayed the need of a bit of oiling, but all that hardly mattered. She watched the door swing open in slow motion.

Her breath suddenly hitched in her throat as the opening door revealed a person behind its solid barrier.

A boy stepped through the doorway and took special care to close the door behind him.

The first things she noticed were his eyes. They were the same sea green she had fallen in love with when he had first opened them eighteen years ago. Beautiful, just like his father's… But they were also different, scarred. The last time she had seen them they had been full of excitement and eagerness to start a very special date. Now, they held confusion, guilt, and loss.

Sally wanted nothing more than to run over and chase away those fears like she had done when he had been a little boy waking up after a nightmare.

The second thing she noticed was the necklace fastened securely around his neck.

_You came back…_

The boy in front of her took in room with one glance, but his eyes focused on her.

"Mom?" he asked hesitantly. For some reason, that one word sounded odd coming from his mouth. It reminded Sally of an old hinge that had become so rusty from disuse.

Sally had nothing to say so she just nodded mutely.

The boy stepped forward hesitantly and then stopped unsure.

Finally finding her strength again, Sally met him halfway and drew him into a gentle embrace. It seemed right. Her head still tucked under his chin since he had passed her petite height a few years ago. Her arms reached all the way back and began to rub them soothingly. His own arms came up naturally to return the affection. It felt so right… until her circling hands came across an unfamiliar bump under his jacket and then reality crashed down on both of them.

Percy tensed as soon as her hands found that bump, and it took Sally less than a second to realize what they were. She abruptly stepped back feeling her son's discomfort.

This _was_ her son, yet…

The look in his eyes was so unfamiliar. What had happened to the ADHD kid who couldn't stop asking questions? What had happened to the boy who awaited her arrival from work? What had happened to the Hero of Olympus who led a scraggly team of teenagers to victory? What had happened to her son?

"I'm sorry," they boy murmured.

Sally blinked. "What for?"

The boy locked eyes with her briefly before turning to look out the window.

"For disappearing," he whispered. "For forgetting."

Sally smiled sadly and stepped forward to place a hand on her son's shoulder. He didn't move away, but he still wasn't looking at her.

"Now why would I blame you? If anything, it's my fault," she said. Percy was now looking at her again with questions in his eyes. "It only took me a few hours after I learned of your kidnapping to figure out it was that _Matthews _person." Sally spat out the name in obvious distaste.

"He came when you only in elementary school," Sally explained. "He wanted you even then. I should have done more to protect you. I should have known he wouldn't have given up on you." (4)

Percy studied her face. "I don't remember that," he said dully.

"No," Sally answered slowly. "I suppose you don't. We'll fix that. Just a little at a time."

Percy gave her a hesitant smile, and Sally noticed that there was a spark. It was small, but there was no denying that it was the same little flame that she had always seen reflected in his eyes.

Sally silently laughed at her question she had asked herself only a few moments ago.

The answer was quite obvious. Her son was right here.

"I brought you something," Sally said, turning abruptly to where she had discarded her purse.

Percy watched curiously as his mother rummaged through her bag and brought out a little white box.

"I hope the ride over here didn't mess it up," she muttered to herself and then turned back to Percy. "Here."

Percy accepted the box and with an encouraging smile from his mom, opened it to reveal a cupcake. A blue cupcake to be exact.

It was small and definitely home made, but something about the little pastry made him smile.

"Blue's my favorite color," he murmured to himself and cast a sheepish glance at his mom. "But you already probably knew that, huh?"

Sally's smile widened. Some things never changed.

"Thanks," he said, licking a little blue frosting that had gotten on his hand.

The next moment Sally found herself in an unexpected embrace. "Thanks, Mom," her son repeated into her hair. "I'm so sorry."

Sally laughed lightly, a little sadness tingeing its sound. "We'll get your memory back little by little starting now. Did you know that today's August eighteenth?"

Percy drew back slightly so that she could see the puzzled frown on his face. Of course he didn't know the date or why his mom would be bringing it up now.

Sally laughed again, this time it was genuine. She smile made her eyes light up as she took hold of her son's free hand.

"Today's August eighteenth. Happy birthday, Percy."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So this was more like a filler chapter, but I just had to write Percy's reunion with his mom since I sure she was worried sick and all these stories I find just focus on Annabeth. Annabeth's not the only one that misses Percy you know! Seriously, I think Percy's mom would freak out more! Anyways… I hope you all liked it.**

**I just realized something. This chapter works out perfectly since this Sunday is Mother's Day. I totally did not plan it out that way, but glad it did. Happy Mother's Day!**

**(1) The color purple has nothing to do with Camp Jupiter. I just picked a random color, so don't go assuming things that aren't true. Basically, Kai will wear any color but white or orange because white reminds her of the School (Whitecoats and the white walls) and she associates orange with demigods so she just won't wear it.****  
><strong>**(2) Yes, I know Annabeth is supposed to sit at the Athena cabin table, but I think Chiron would make an exception for this in order to make Percy comfortable and familiar with the camp. It's not the first time Annabeth has done this anyways.****  
><strong>**(3) A nickname derived from when Percy had mistakenly heard "sky" when Kai had first told him her real name (chapter 18).****  
><strong>**(4) Scene found in chapter 2.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	24. Chapter 24: A Friendly Game Gone Wrong

**Chapter 24 – A Friendly Game Gone Wrong**

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><p>There was no denying that Percy felt a little excited for tonight.<p>

It had almost been a full week since their first arrival at the camp, and Percy and Kai were beginning to get caught up into to swing of things.

They didn't join into the regular schedule of the camp all the time, but with urgings from both Chiron and Annabeth, the two bird-kids decided to give the camp a try.

Percy was of course more willing to try new things more than Kai, but even the temperamental girl had allowed herself to be dragged into different activities. One of those activities happened to be tonight—a friendly demigod version of capture-the-flag.

Right now, Percy was standing looking at the armor in front of him. It was only a simple shield and helmet. He could have gone for more, but that would only add more weight and would probably irritate his wings. His only weapon was Riptide which was tucked away in his pocket, but that was more than enough for him.

Percy glanced out one of the windows. Kai had cleaned the cabin quite thoroughly (she claimed that the dust and cobwebs made the cabin look like a haunted house), so that he could actually see through the glass to the amazing view outside. The sun was nearing the horizon. Chiron had already explained all the rules and told the campers to gear up and meet at the edge of the woods at sundown. Percy was more than ready to go, so where was…

A sudden noise made Percy swing his head to the front of the cabin. The door opened to reveal his missing roommate.

"I was wondering where you went," Percy said. "The game is going to—what is that?"

Something gleamed on both of Kai's arms, catching the demigod's eye. It bore a resemblance to some of the armor that Percy had seen some of the campers wearing except that it appeared to be steel, not bronze, with simple designs (that looked suspiciously like little volts of electricity) etched in. Taking a closer look, Percy saw two solid plates completely covered the top half of her forearms and were held in place by leather straps, and what looked like black fingerless gloves lay underneath and stretched all the way to the top of her elbows. When the bird-girl shifted slightly, he also saw that the top of her hand and knuckles were covered in different sized plates of steel or whatever that silver metal was.

Kai looked down at the strange armor before answering. "The Hephaestus kids made it for me."

"Wait. They just randomly made you some armor and handed it over to you?" Percy asked.

Kai scowled at him. "No. There was an exchange. I'm not good with any of the weapons so I asked the Hephaestus kids if there was something that they could make me to help my hand-to-hand combat. They were more than happy to help. I think they liked the challenge."

"So what do they do?" Percy asked, eyeing the armor.

Kai held up an arm so Percy could get a full view of it. "First of all, the armor on the forearms can stop the blade of a sword. Second, the metal they used is a great conductor for electricity, so that, combined with the hard metal, should give a nasty punch."

Percy winced at the idea of it. "Careful about how hard you punch."

Kai's punches were hard enough. Kai's punches with electricity could be deadly if she hit just right. Percy really didn't want to know just how destructive they could be now.

He took in the rest of Kai's equipment. Like him, she had chosen to go light. The only other things were a blue-plumed helmet that was held casually in one hand and a celestial bronze dagger strapped to her side.

During the past week, it became pretty clear that Kai didn't do well with weapons. She had a proficient amount of skill with just about any weapon, but it didn't compare to any of the other campers. Annabeth assumed that this was because Kai was obviously not a demigod and therefore did not have their hardwired battle instincts that made swordplay natural to them.

If Kai had the patience or time—Annabeth guessed that she would have become pretty good with a sword considering her past battle training—but Kai had neither. The bird-girl complained that swords were bulky and awkward; she barely touched the bow; she could wield a spear but throwing it had proved rather disastrous. After hearing about Kai's years in karate classes, Annabeth gave her a dagger, saying that it would probably fit her style of fighting better. Kai had accepted the weapon and practiced with it, but Percy assumed that the dagger would go untouched during the course of the game.

"You know that celestial bronze can't hurt you," Percy pointed out.

Kai shrugged. "Demigod weapons aren't limited to celestial bronze."

She had a point there. For some reason a picture of a sword popped up in Percy's mind. It gleamed strangely. One side had the easily recognized golden light from celestial bronze, while the other side lacked its own luster and instead reflected a dull silver color. (1) Percy shook his head to clear the sudden thought. Sometimes these random facts that made no sense really got annoying.

"You said there was an exchange?" Percy remembered.

"Oh, yeah. They made these for me in exchange for some experiments with my powers."

Percy winced at the word "experiments." It was not the most pleasant word in his vocabulary.

"Not those kinds of experiments," Kai clarified, catching his pained look. "More mechanical kind. They wanted to see if they could trap my energy inside some kind of bomb."

The demigod stared at her incredulously. "How would you do that?"

Kai shrugged. "Dunno. I just provide the energy. As long as they don't seriously hurt anybody with it except monsters, I'm okay with it."

Percy was pretty sure that anything with Kai's energy in it would "seriously hurt" somebody, but the Hephaestus kids always seemed to know what they were doing, so he didn't worry too much about it.

"It seems like you're making some new friends," Percy observed with a smile.

Kai shrugged again, but Percy didn't miss the small tug on the corner of her lips.

Kai didn't talk to many people at camp and stuck mostly to Percy, but he had noticed her leaving his side more and more. She steered clear of the Aphrodite and Ares cabins, but he had seen her visiting the Athena cabin a couple times, David had given Kai a couple Pegasus lessons just for fun, and now he knew why he had seen Kai head over to the Forges more than once.

Before Percy could get another comment in, a trumpet-like noise filled in the air.

"You ready?" Kai asked, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

The sun was a brilliant ball of orange in the sky. Its dying rays painted the few, scattered clouds a deep bloody red, which contrasted sharply with fading blue just beneath it.

Beneath that darkening sky, a group of battle-ready demigods gathered just outside of the camp's forests. So far, the mass of demigods was just loosely separated into two teams as the campers milled around until the game actually started.

For Percy and Kai, they had made an alliance with Athena's cabin in exchange for a story—specifically, the one about the Second Titans War. Annabeth had been pretty reluctant to make that sort of deal, but eventually gave in. Along with them were the cabin members from Hephaestus, Apollo (only half), and Hades (which was only Nico). Other minor gods' cabins had also joined their team.

The opposing team led by Ares consisted of Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus, and Hermes. Their team also held a few cabin members from minor gods.

Percy turned around to ask Kai if she saw Annabeth, but stopped when he caught sight of her casting suspicious glances around at all the demigods. The bird-kid sighed as he easily recognized those looks.

"Really, Kai?" he asked. "It's been nearly a week and you still haven't gotten over your fear of crowds?"

Kai shot him a scowl. "Things like this don't disappear over night," she hissed back at him.

They were getting closer to the group now, and Kai's steps had gotten slower and slower.

"Come on, Kai," Percy said.

Kai wasn't looking at him again.

"Do they have to stand so close?" Kai muttered to herself.

Doing the only thing he could think of to get her mind off the large number of people, Percy grabbed her hand. "Look! There's Annabeth," he lied, hoping that the random direction he had picked would lead them to the gray-eyed demigod.

Kai shouted out a protest as he dragged her into the mass of people.

"Hey, Percy! Let go!" Kai shouted, wrenching her hand out of his.

Percy looked back to see that his distraction had worked and that Kai was now sending him death glares and muttering about his sweaty hands instead of noticing the people around her.

Sighing with relief, the bird-kid returned his attention to finding the elusive daughter of Athena, but the task became difficult when the group of demigods had started to take note of his arrival.

For the first time since he came, Percy had his wings out in public. Kai had long since abandoned wearing a jacket or anything to cover it up. She often complained about jackets being cramped and annoying, but Percy still felt very self-conscious about them. Now, he was having second thoughts about letting them out so that he could perhaps use them in the game.

"So those are his wings? They're _huge!"_

"Is Zeus going to zap him out of the sky?"

"Is that even fair that he gets to use them?"

"Of course, he can use them. They're part of his body, so why not?"

Between the stares and not very subtle whisperings, Percy was starting to feel really uncomfortable.

"Ignore them," a familiar voice came up behind them.

Percy looked to see Annabeth and Nico coming up to stand with him and Kai.

"They're just jealous," Annabeth finished, smiling at his wings before turning her grey eyes to meet his.

Percy couldn't help remember when she had told him that she thought his wings were beautiful. He hoped the coming shadows hid the heat he felt rising in his face.

Nico just stood silently next to Annabeth, not even acknowledging the wings.

"So what are our orders, general?" Kai drawled. The bird-girl had a bored expression on her face, but a small light in her eyes betrayed the slight bit of excitement she felt.

Annabeth copied the military act and stood straight while sizing both Kai and Percy in their armor.

"You guys didn't go with much armor I see," Annabeth observed.

Percy opened his mouth to explain, but Annabeth swept on without another question.

"Border patrol. Since this is your first time, you'll start off with something easy. Just keep anyone with a red helmet out of our side by whatever means necessary," Annabeth ordered. "You both know the boundaries."

Both of them nodded.

"Good. Just spread yourselves out from your other teammates," Annabeth said.

"Campers!"

Annabeth and all the other campers quieted and turned their attention to the front.

Chiron stood just on the edge of the forest. His human-half was covered in armor, while the horse-half was covered with various medical supplies. Next to him stood the other half of the Apollo cabin that was to stand by as medics rather than players because of the large group of demigods. (2)

Once he was sure he had everyone's attention, the centaur continued, "You have all been informed about the rules. No maiming or killing. All magical items are allowed. The Apollo campers and I will be here if there is any need for medical attention. Besides that, have fun!"

A roar went up from the campers, and when Chiron gave them a solemn nod, the two groups separated and headed to their sides of the forest.

Annabeth was separated from Percy and Kai as she gave out orders and directions.

"Here, follow me," Nico said.

Percy swung his head to see the son of Hades who was decked out in armor as dark as a moonless night. If he continued to watch it, the armor seemed to draw in shadows and shift under his gaze, confusing his senses for a moment.

Percy and Kai followed the dark demigod deeper into the forest until they came to a stream.

"This marks one of the borders," Nico explained and then abruptly turned to leave.

"Hey, where are you going to be?" Percy asked.

Nico didn't even turn around when he said, "Around." The son of Hades then melted into the shadows of the falling night.

"Creepy," Kai murmured before a wry grin spread across her face. "With someone like him, I'd say we definitely have a chance at winning."

Percy rolled his eyes. Now that she was away from the crowds, she was her normal cocky self. "Since when did you get so caught up in these games?" he inquired.

Kai shrugged with that slightly disturbing smile still playing on her lips. "What kid wouldn't want to swing dangerous weapons at one another? This is going to be fun."

Percy was going to comment that she had a demented view of the word "fun," but she had a point, the sense of danger made this game that much more thrilling, and plus, it's not like they were allowed to hurt each other.

"Just be careful," Percy said.

Kai scowled. "Just who do think I am?"

"You're Kai. Now don't do anything stupid," Percy said.

"I could say the same to you," Kai replied.

Before Percy could get another word out, Kai was in the air and disappearing into the thick tangles of trees.

The previous excitement wore off as the darkness of the night thickened and nobody could be seen. Percy stayed on high alert, but as the seconds ticked by, he gradually relaxed, finding the border patrol very boring.

Spreading out his wings, Percy took off the ground. The dense forest made it hard a maneuver, but he still managed to weave easily between the trees. He stayed in view of the stream, while simultaneously keeping an eye out for unwanted intruders.

Nobody was there.

Either the Ares team was a lot sneakier than he thought or they were attacking somewhere else. Percy strained to listen and thought he heard something, but the forest was so full of noises from the animals and monsters residing in it that Percy couldn't be sure what he was hearing.

Suddenly a crashing sound came from his right.

Percy whipped around, whipping Riptide out in a heartbeat.

Whoever it was made a lot of noise as they cracked branches and rustled leaves in their hasty approach.

Percy silently scoffed at their poor woodsman skills and decided to hide in order to give himself the element of surprise. Alighting among dense underbrush, Percy crouched so that the glow of his sword was concealed in the vegetation.

The crashing sounds came closer and closer. Percy tensed as adrenaline coursed through his veins. Silently, he counted down to himself.

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

"Percy!"

The sudden shout made Percy forget his plan of attack and he ran out of his hiding place.

"Kai!" he shouted back, eyes scanning the undergrowth.

What was she doing here? She was supposed to take the opposite direction from him.

Suddenly, the tone of Kai's voice registered in his mind. She had sounded panicked.

"Kailani!" Percy shouted again, taking off in the direction he had thought he heard her voice.

"Percy!" the voice called out again.

Percy corrected his course and began to fly now. Whoever was hurting Kai would—

_Bam!_

Percy didn't even get to finish that thought as he ran into something hard and fell out of the sky. He managed to catch himself before he careened into the forest floor and made a more graceful landing than a complete free fall.

What was that? He was sure that there hadn't been a tree in the way when he had been flying.

"Ow, you idiot! Watch where you're going! There are other people trying to fly, you know," someone said beside him.

"Kai! Who's attacking you? What's going on?" Percy demanded, jumping to his feet.

There was a groan, and once the stars cleared from his vision, Percy could see that Kai was lying on the ground a few feet away, holding her head.

He was aware of his own head hurting, but that wasn't the first thing on his mind at the moment, although the same really couldn't be said for Kai.

"Dang it! Why do you have to have such a hard head," Kai moaned, rubbing the spot that had collided with Percy's skull.

"Kai, who's attacking you?" Percy tried again.

Kai's eyes flew open as she suddenly remembered the danger she had been in.

"Percy!" Kai shouted, getting up to grab his shoulders.

Percy winced as her nails dug into his skin. He never knew that one of Clarisse's soldiers could make Kai so nervous.

"They're coming," Kai shouted.

"Keep your voice down. Do you want them to find us?" Percy whispered urgently.

Kai ignored Percy's statement and continued shouting. "They're here. They're coming."

Something was wrong. Had someone hurt Kai without him knowing it? Kai had made it pretty obvious that none of the demigods scared her. So why…?

"Where are they? How many of Clarisse's—"

"Not them!" Kai almost yelled, her voice was a little more controlled now, but still very panicked.

Percy gave her a confused look.

"_They're _coming. The School. The Erasers are here."

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Luke's sword from PJO, Backbiter.<strong>**  
><strong>**(2) Apollo kid medics were not needed before, but the amount of campers dramatically increased after **_**The Last Olympian**_** so I figured Chiron would need some help.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	25. Chapter 25: Chaos

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any other of the books/movies quoted in here. I am merely a high school student who should really be writing the AP English essay due this Sunday.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25 - Chaos<strong>

* * *

><p>"<em>They're <em>coming. The School. The Erasers are here."

Percy gaped stupidly at Kai, her words echoing eerily in the forest and resounding over and over inside his head. Fear and anger surged up inside the demigod. Why couldn't they leave him alone?

Then, logic finally sunk in and he reached up to dislodge Kai's fingernails from his shoulders.

"There's a magical border, Kai. They can't get in. You must have—"

"You think I don't know that?" Kai hissed; the tone in her voice made Percy wince. "I was sure that that some monster was just setting off the electrical fields in some weird way, but I had to check so I flew over the trees and—" Kai stopped to gulp in some air before continuing. "—And I—I saw them. Clear as day. On _this _side of the border."

Percy took one moment before the cold feeling returned in full force. Fear made his body snap into action. Grabbing Kai's hand, he began running through the forest to where he hoped Chiron was supposed to be.

All those months of fleeing put Percy and Kai in auto drive—emotions were shut down, senses went on high alert, and battle instincts hummed in the back of their minds.

"How many?" Percy asked.

"I'm not sure," Kai replied. "A lot, but they were too far and it's too dark to really tell."

"How did they get in here?" Percy demanded.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Kai snapped. "If you really want to know, why don't you ask one of them? There were certainly plenty to choose from."

Percy ignored Kai's irritable reply. "The campers are in danger. Celestial bronze weapons are useless against them and they're unprepared."

That shut Kai up for a moment as she took in the reality of the situation.

"What are you two doing?" a voice hissed.

Percy and Kai skidded to an abrupt stop, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Annabeth?" Percy called out.

The demigod appeared right in front of them, literally. In her left hand was an old baseball cap.

"You're supposed to be guarding the border. And try to be a little sneakier. I could practically hear you two yelling and stomping around half way across the forest!" she said in an angry whisper.

"Annabeth, Erasers are coming," Percy informed her.

Annabeth scowled. "Stop playing around. Only demigods can get pass the magical—"

"Do I look like I'm playing around?" Kai shouted, coming up to get in the demigod's face.

Annabeth took one glance at Kai's face, and Percy saw confusion replace the anger.

"But the magical barrier…" Annabeth protested weakly.

"They're here," Kai said. "I wish this was some kind of sick joke, but I've been fighting these things for years. I would recognize them in a heartbeat."

Annabeth took no more than a second to believe Kai, and in a moment, she was once again a military general.

"Nico! Did you hear that?" she asked into the darkness.

"Yeah, what should we do?" the demigod's voice appeared from the gloom. Percy looked into the shadows and could barely see the outline of the son of Hades.

"Warn the demigods that there is danger. Tell them everything they need to know, especially that celestial bronze won't work," Annabeth ordered. "Tell everybody and send out messengers to tell Clarisse's team."

Nico nodded once and then disappeared.

"We have to tell Chiron," Annabeth announced, and once again, they were racing towards the edge of the woods.

"Annabeth, how are we supposed to fight them?" Percy asked. "We can't use celestial bronze."

Annabeth drew her lips into a thin line and her eyebrows furrowed together. "We'll figure that out as we go," she answered.

For some reason, that did little to comfort Percy.

The darkness closed in around the three teens as they ran towards the edge of the forest, and each time Percy was sure they had reached the end, another stretch of trees met his eyes.

"'Run, Forrest, run!'" (1)

Once again, Percy found him and his companions stopping when an unknown voice interrupted their frantic sprint towards the exit.

Maniacal laughter echoed in the forest.

"'Run, Forrest, run!'" the same crazed voice repeated.

Erasers appeared right in front of them, and Percy felt the wind knocked out of him. The past week had given him hope that he would never see the School again, but the sight before him shattered that dream.

The Eraser that had spoken was in the front with a wild, insane grin across his face. Percy recognized him instantly.

Kai and Percy didn't know that particular Eraser's real name, but everyone called him Bookworm. Nobody had ever seen the Eraser with a book, let alone reading one, but he was always quoting literature, movies, or whatever. It drove everyone crazy, but the deranged Eraser never shut up.

Bookworm laughed, "'Run, run, run as fast as you can, but you can't catch me, I'm the—'" (2)

"Quiet, Wormy," one of his companions snapped and then gave the group of teens a feral smile so that the pointed teeth gleamed in the little bit of light. "Hello again, _freaks."_

"Annabeth," Percy whispered. "We're going to make a distraction and you're going to go to Chiron."

The girl broke her gaze away from the Erasers to look at Percy. "Are you crazy? There's no way I'm going to leave and—"

"We've fought more Erasers than this at one time. We can handle ourselves," Kai hissed to the demigod.

"Chiron needs to know what's going on, that is, assuming the Erasers haven't attacked him yet," Percy added.

Annabeth looked between the demigods and the Erasers as she weighed her options. "You kick these guys' butts and then meet me where Chiron is as soon as you're done," the demigod ordered.

Percy nodded his assent, while Kai said, "Yeah, great, now get going. We'll meet you outside this forest."

Without another word, the daughter of Athena disappeared into the forest.

"If we don't die first," Kai added as soon as the girl was out of sight.

Percy shot Kai an annoyed look, but Kai wasn't looking at him to see it.

"'The end is soon…'" Bookworm sighed and then let his crazy smile split over his face so Percy was sure that it was going to crack under the strain. "'I feel it. If you're close, run away, far, hide, do whatever you can. Who knows if we'll be safe.'" (3)

"Shut up," an Eraser snapped. "Wren, Zanier, go after the girl."

Two of the Erasers went off to chase Annabeth, but an explosion made them jump back with a yelp.

"Come on," Kai said, electricity coursing around her arms. "It's been a while. Why don't we catch up first?"

The Eraser that had been giving orders growled. "Fine, they're all doomed anyways."

"Why do you have to be all depressing?" Kai asked playfully, although the look on her face held the opposite message from her tone.

"'We are a step closer to it now—the doomsday—'" (4)

Percy never heard the end of Bookworm's quote as it was lost in an Eraser's howl.

The leader leapt at Percy shouting, "Remember your orders."

Percy caught sight of the other Erasers' malicious grins before the leader's heavy weight crashed down on him.

Percy rolled with the Eraser's movements and kept rolling. The Eraser grunted as his bulky body took the brunt of the blows as the two tumbled across the forest floor. After the Eraser finally lost his grip, Percy jumped up and took in his surroundings.

Kai was a stone's throw away battling the ones called Wren and Zanier. Two more were coming to join their leader in attacking himself. Bookworm was still laughing and spouting out random quotes.

Turning back to the leader, Percy decided to make quick work on the Eraser before the other two arrived.

"Get out of my camp," Percy said before he charged.

The Eraser was still winded from their tussle on the ground and was unprepared for Percy's attack. Percy managed to get in a couple good hits before the Eraser started to fight back. Back and forth the two hybrids exchanged blows—the Eraser using his claws to tear at the other's skin and the bird-kid using his wings to avoid attacks and launch his own surprise assaults.

Percy was on the ground again when warning bells suddenly went off in his head.

_Behind you_, Kai's voice warned.

Without any hesitation, Percy shot up into the air, kicking off his opponent's body to give himself more momentum.

Not even a second later, another Eraser's hand appeared and swiped at where Percy had been.

Surprised by Percy's sudden leap, the Eraser that had been behind Percy found himself unable to stop his own blow. Blood splattered the night as the Eraser's claws cut through the chest of his own leader.

Percy shook his head, allowing himself a moment to be grateful that the Erasers were horrible group fighters.

"Amos," the Eraser stuttered, removing his claws from his leader's chest. "I did—didn't mean to…"

The Eraser called Amos growled at his companion and slashed a paw across the other's face. The Eraser accepted the punishment without any more than a whimper.

"Get the kid," Amos grunted.

Another Eraser had joined the two below Percy, and without breaking his stride, the third leapt into the air with his claws outstretched.

Percy easily kicked the Eraser away. Casting a quick gland at Kai, he saw that both Wren and Zanier were on the ground (he couldn't tell if they were dead or unconscious). Two others had appeared from the forest and replaced their fallen brethren. Bookworm was still uttering nonsense.

"Pay attention to us, freak," a voice interrupted his observations.

Another Eraser, the one who had accidently clawed his own leader, was leaping towards Percy, and he dove quickly to avoid it. Unfortunately, the Erasers had expected this and another tackled Percy to the ground.

Using his legs, Percy flipped the Eraser off his body and jumped quickly to his feet to meet Amos who was already charging towards him.

Instead of running or flying away, Percy ran straight at the Eraser and grabbed at the Eraser's shirt. Using the Eraser's momentum, Percy swung around and directed the Eraser straight into a tree.

Amos collided headfirst into the solid trunk. Percy jumped forward grabbed the Eraser's head and snapped it the way Kai had shown him months ago. The Eraser was dead in a heartbeat.

Percy stepped away feeling disgusted. He rarely used such a gruesome technique, but he had to end this now.

Turning around, he caught sight of the other Erasers' stunned faces, but those quickly morphed back into snarls and curses.

The two leapt at Percy, and this time, their movements were better synchronized. They tore at Percy and the demigod fought back with equal ferocity.

Something brushed his back, but he didn't bother to turn.

"The Erasers are concentrated at the edge of the forest where Chiron is," Kai informed him from behind.

Percy ducked a blow and briefly saw that Kai had eliminated another Eraser but that Bookworm had finally joined the fight.

Coming back up, the demigod drove his fist into an Eraser's chin and the Eraser dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"How many?" he asked Kai.

"Dunno," Kai replied. "Get down now!"

Percy dropped and an Eraser backed off with a yelp as he met a face-full of electricity.

The demigod was on his feet again.

"They need your help, Percy," Kai told him. "They don't know how to fight Erasers."

Percy shook his head as he managed to get a good kick in the Eraser's gut.

"I'm not leaving you," he said, but Kai next words made any firmness in his voice evaporate.

"They need your help. I'm going to throw your sorry butt after Annabeth's if you don't get moving in five seconds," she growled at him, but then her voice softened slightly. "I can take care of myself."

Percy clenched his jaw. Kai was dead serious.

"Don't die," he told her, spreading his wings.

"Don't plan to," Kai quipped back.

Percy nodded once to Kai before taking off. He easily weaved through the trees, arriving to the edge of the forest in no time.

Bursting through the branches, Percy's eyes were met with total chaos.

* * *

><p>Kai hesitated in her fight to make sure that Percy was indeed going in the direction of the other fight and then she turned face towards her own battle. Percy had left her with only three Erasers.<p>

"Come on, boys," Kai said. "Don't have all day, do we?"

Bookworm's eyes followed Percy's retreat. "'You can run,'" he murmured, "'but sooner or later, you run out of places to run to.'" (5)

"Does he ever shut up?" Kai asked one of the Erasers.

"Unfortunately, no," he answered and then growled when he realized he had been conversing with the enemy.

The two non-literature-reciting Erasers charged at Kai.

"Please," Kai said, unfazed by their approach. "Like I haven't seen that move before."

Stretching out a hand, Kai mustered all the energy she could and released it on the two Erasers. The electricity exploded into their faces and its force blew the two back like ragdolls. They collapsed into a heap of burning fur.

Kai smiled grimly at the two defeated Erasers before her knees began to sway. Cursing with some of the ancient Greek she had picked up from Annabeth, Kai leaned against a tree as she tried to catch her breath. The last blast had been a little of an overkill, but it had done its job. Once the buzzing in her head had cleared, Kai looked up to see that Bookworm was still staring off to where Percy had disappeared.

"Are you going to be more of a challenge?" Kai asked the lone Eraser.

Bookworm turned at the sound of her voice and he seemed to notice for the first time that he was now alone.

Looking at his companions' unmoving bodies, he whimpered, "'You don't know how I need a friend now.'" (6) He paused as if considering his own words, and then completely abandoning the pitiful look, he cast Kai a disturbing smirk. "Friends? 'Books are the man's best friends.'" (7)

"If you believe that, you need a social life," Kai muttered.

Obviously offended, the Eraser let out a snarl as he charged at the bird-kid.

Kai prepared herself for the attack, but the movements of the Eraser were throwing her off. He ran, not in a straight line, but rather in a lopsided, zigzag pattern that reminded Kai of Mr. D. Unable to predict the Eraser's moves, Kai was caught by surprise when Eraser suddenly appeared before her and tackled her to the ground.

Kai growled as she felt the heavy weight of the Eraser bring them down, and she tucked in her head as they rolled down a small hill. The Eraser had a firm grip of the bird-kid and refused to release her despite her kicking and struggling. With her arms pinned to her side, Kai was quickly running out of options, so she did the only thing left that she could think of.

The Eraser let out a pained howl when Kai's teeth penetrated his matted fur and bit down on the skin beneath—hard. Bookworm let go of her quickly as if she had suddenly burst into flames.

Kai rolled away and came up in a crouch, spitting and trying to get the horrible, acid taste out of her mouth.

"There's a thing called a bath and soap," Kai informed the Eraser.

He merely growled and bent over like a predator waiting for the right moment to strike.

Kai brought her arms in front of her, but the electricity only fizzled weakly. Her last shot had drained a lot out of her and only time could replenish the energy she had lost.

Right now, Kai wasn't confident that her hand-to-hand combat skills would be enough to bring the Eraser down.

"How 'bout we go for a run?" Kai suggested and then took off towards what she hoped was the exit to this forest.

Bookworm chuckled. "'Run, Forrest, run.'" And then the Eraser took off after her.

* * *

><p>Percy fought through the chaotic mass of bodies. Around him demigods and Erasers were locked in fierce battles.<p>

Percy caught sight of a group of Hephaestus kids fighting together in a group. They had long since abandoned their celestial bronze weapons and instead used their forge hammers that they apparently kept with them at all times. Percy turned around; he saw kids fighting with clubs and staffs; some fought with less; everywhere he turned, Percy saw demigods fighting desperately for their lived, but he could not find that one specific demigod.

There it was again. Three blasts from a horn (Percy guessed it was Chiron's horn) sounded across Camp Half-Blood and then went silent. In its place, the roar of battle filled the void.

Percy launched himself into the sky, and from his aerial view, he caught sight of a flash of familiar yellow. Quickly, before it disappeared into the fray again, Percy dove towards it.

Annabeth was fighting well. She looked grim and tired, but even without her dagger, she was a force to be reckoned with.

Percy landed beside her, and immediately the girl swung around arms raised and eyes flashing. Catching sight of Percy, Annabeth abruptly changed the direction of her punch and connected her fist with an Eraser's jaw. Without hesitation, Percy followed up her move with a well-practiced roundhouse kick, and the Eraser immediately dropped to the ground only to be trampled by his brethren.

"Watch it," Annabeth shouted over the noise. "I almost attacked you along with the enemy."

Percy pressed his back against the other demigod's and fended off an Eraser's claws.

"Was that Chiron's horn?" Percy asked, ignoring the other's warning.

"Yeah, what about it? Quick, duck."

On instinct, Percy obeyed the command and dropped to the floor. The Eraser he had been fighting immediately followed him in a less graceful manner (courtesy of Annabeth's fist). Taking advantage of the Eraser's undefended position, Percy lashed out a powerful kick towards the Eraser's head and jumped nimbly to his feet.

"What do the three blasts mean?" Percy asked, picking up their conversation.

"It's a signal," Annabeth answered. "Chiron's drawing all of the demigods out of the forest and warning them of the danger."

"Why? Wouldn't we have the advantage in the forest since the demigod's know it better than the Erasers?"

"Not all the demigods know the forest well and we need to fight as one. The forest would separate us."

Percy nodded at the logic in that statement, but even gathered as one force, the demigods were still being quickly overpowered.

_Hey,_ Percy called out silently in his head. _Any gods out there? Because we can seriously use you help right about now…_

* * *

><p>Kai's powers had recharged.<p>

Great. Now she could blast the tree to her heart's content.

The bird-girl had successfully made it out of the forest, but when she had turned around to face the Eraser, she found nothing but trees and darkness.

Bookworm had seemingly disappeared.

Kai stood, panting at the forest's edge. Just to her left, the sounds of the camper's battle could be heard, but she was too focused on her own danger to pay much attention to it.

Kai turned left and then right. Paranoia was setting in. Kai wasn't sure if that was the Eraser's strategy, but whether it was or not, it was working quite well.

Without warning, pain exploded in Kai's back. The bird-girl screamed out, sure that if the Eraser pushed any harder her spine would snap.

Electricity reacted to her fear and pain, and immediately, Kai felt her body being surrounded by the dangerous light.

An aggravated howl split Kai's eardrum, and she felt the Eraser's hold release.

As soon as the paws had removed themselves, Kai rolled forward and came up a few feet away in an awkward crouch.

Bookworm was also on his feet and snarling savagely.

"What?" Kai panted. "Don't have some witty quote to say?"

Bookworm growled and bounded towards Kai. Once again, his gait came in irregular spurts that would make a drunkard seem sober.

Kai couldn't analyze his movements, so in a last ditch effort, she launched herself into the air, barely avoiding the sharp claws.

The cat and mouse game continued for several runs, and Kai still couldn't figure out any pattern in the Eraser's movements or a counter-attack.

Bookworm's arms seemed to flail randomly, but they always caught her punches. His legs seemed wobbly, but he never lost his balance. Everything about Bookworm confused Kai to no end, but at least he had stopped the incessant chatter.

Bookworm made another charge, but Kai expected it and easily leapt over and behind the Eraser.

Just as Kai was about to land, she saw Bookworm's foot touch down on the grass, but even before his other foot had landed, the Eraser pivoted and pounced at Kai, moving at breakneck speed.

Still partially in the air, Kai couldn't avoid the advancing Eraser, and feebly tried to change her direction.

Kai screamed as teeth connected with her left arm. The bird-girl jerked back her body, but Bookworm only seemed to bite down harder. With a muffled growl, Bookworm wrenched back his head, and hot pain shot through her nerves.

A red haze covered Kai's eyes, and before she realized her own actions, her right hand sparked to life.

The next thing she knew she heard a horrible crunching sound as her armored hand came down on the Eraser's skull.

The Eraser released her left arm in order to howl out his pain, but only a strangled, gurgling cry escaped his mouth.

Together, the two adversaries collapsed on the ground only mere inches from each other.

Bookworm's black eyes found Kai's purple ones.

"'The horror, the horror,'" Bookworm managed to whisper before his lips went forever silent. (8)

Kai lay there looking into the Eraser's now blank stare. Her mind swam with pain and confusion as she tried to decipher the Eraser's last words.

A growl nearby snapped Kai out of her short musing.

Using her good arm, Kai pushed herself up and she could now see another group of Erasers making their way towards her.

"I think you said it best Bookworm," Kai muttered, trying push down her pain. "'The horror.'"

* * *

><p>Electric pain shot up Percy's arm, and he tried not to reel forward.<p>

"Percy!"

Annabeth came up beside him and hit the Eraser that Percy had been fighting.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked him.

"Did you hear that?" Percy replied, clutching his left arm.

Annabeth looked around the battlefield. Everywhere there was noise.

"Hear what?" Annabeth questioned.

Percy looked up, confused. He had heard a scream, but on a battlefield, that sort of sound was expected, so why did this one feel important?

"Percy, your arm!"

The boy looked to where he was still squeezing his left arm protectively, but when he let go, it seemed absolutely fine.

"It's nothing," he muttered.

Shaking his head, Percy cleared whatever had made him pause a minute ago.

The two demigods once again joined the fray. They fought desperately, but for each Eraser they cut down, more easily came and took its place.

Around him, Erasers and demigods yelled out their fury as they fought back and forth. The demigods had the advantage with their lithe, quick bodies and greater numbers, but all these advantages were nearly lost in the sheer strength of Erasers. The demigods could easily outmaneuver an Eraser and since they had the superior number, several demigods could gang up on one Eraser, but that's all they could do. Demigods were used to battling with monsters and weapons, not with hand-to-hand combat that depended mostly on brute strength. Blows were exchanged, but in nearly all the individual fights, the Eraser or Erasers were the ones on the offensive, and a person could only defend for so long.

"We can't fight like this. We aren't used to fighting without our weapons," Annabeth gasped between tired breaths.

Percy blocked another Eraser's blow.

"So what do we do? Do we—"

Something else caught Percy's attention. The bird-kid turned quickly to catch whatever it was, but there was nothing behind him except more demigods and Erasers.

"Percy, what's wrong?" Annabeth asked.

"Do you feel that?" he muttered back.

"Gods, Percy. Are you going to keep getting distracted by weird—" Annabeth abruptly stopped talking as she also felt the change in the atmosphere.

It was a scent. Percy wasn't sure exactly what is was, but it was sweet, wild, and slightly… insane?

The smell strengthened with each passing second, and one by one, Erasers and demigods alike paused in their fighting.

The scent continued to build until Percy was sure he would either pass out from its intensity or loose his mind in its intoxicating aroma.

The clearing was almost completely silent, so Percy clearly heard Annabeth's gasp as if she had screamed it right into his ear.

The girl was looking at something right behind him, so Percy immediately whirled around to see the last person he expected.

An Eraser whimpered quietly as the person drew nearer, and Percy couldn't help but feel like joining in.

Mr. D was not a very intimidating person, not with his crumpled leopard print shirt and unsteady gait, but Percy had never seen the god of Wine quite like this. Something deadly and terrifying hung over the camp director, power seemed to gather around him, and his usually unfocused gaze now flashed a disturbing purple color.

In the time it took to breath, vines sprang from the soil and began to instantly wrap around the Erasers and the spell that had hung over the battlefield suddenly broke into another chaotic mess.

Erasers snapped back into action, but instead of attacking the demigods, they lashed back at the vines trying to ensnare them.

For maybe a half-a-second, the Erasers fought back at the strange vines, but after the first Eraser let out a final choked cry before he was silenced, the Erasers abandoned their futile battles with the plants and fled.

The demigods only stood in shock as the enemy ran towards the border, and the only one to follow the Erasers in chase was a very furious Mrs. O'Leary.

Within seconds, the clearing was once again plunged into a shocked silence.

"Mr. D?" Annabeth asked hesitantly.

The camp director turned, but Percy noticed that the god was not looking at Annabeth. Following the god's eyes, Percy turned to see the god of Wine watching his son, Pollux, pick himself of the floor. (9)

A huff brought Percy's attention back the god, and just before the god had completely started to stalk off, Percy was sure he had heard the god mutter something like "insolent fools can't fight right" and "have to protect him myself."

* * *

><p>Percy looked around the torn up land. Campers were scattered about. Some were helping their friends, while others just wandered around in a dazed shock. Apollo campers were passing out bandages and healing the worst. The "worst" consisted of several campers on the ground moaning or just not moving at all.<p>

A motionless lump only a few feet away caught Percy's attention

It was girl, only twelve or so, and completely still; the sight of the demigod made Percy turn away. Was she dead or just gravely injured? How many more were in the same situation as her?

"It's not your fault Percy," Annabeth said, coming up beside him and laying a hand on his arm.

"How can you say that this isn't my fault," Percy asked, his eyes flickering once again to the unmoving body of the girl as some other demigods came to check on her.

"It's not like you invited them here," Annabeth pointed out harshly. Percy couldn't tell if the anger in her voice was because she was annoyed with him or pissed at the Erasers.

"But they came because of me," Percy countered.

Annabeth looked at him sadly. "Percy, you're our friend. You stood beside us and fought for this camp more times I can count. And even if you don't remember all that, we would do the same for you. Then and now."

Percy still felt depressed, but before the sadness could push itself any farther, the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps distracted him.

"Percy!"

The demigod turned to see a boy running towards him. Judging by the bow slung over his shoulder, Percy guessed that he was a son of Apollo.

The boy reached them. "You need to come. Kai's asking for you," the boy said breathlessly.

Alarm spiked inside Percy. "Is something wrong?" he demanded.

"She's pretty hurt," the boy answered grimly.

Annabeth moved to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but he barely registered the touch.

"How hurt?" he asked, fearing the worst.

"Very."

Percy looked around, but couldn't see Kai in the immediate area.

"Where is she?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the deaths, but for realism, it calls for some casualties. I tried to keep this fanfiction as death free as possible, but even Rick Riordan recognized that not everyone is invincible.**

**To those of you who have been asking for Thalia and/or Poseidon, I'm sorry, but I have no plans to include them in this story. The main reason is that I don't know how I would do that or I'm afraid that the character would play such a minor role that it wouldn't do them justice. No, I don't think Poseidon has the power to bring back Percy's memories (as far as I know Hypnos, the god of sleep, is the only one who can do that, but for the sake of the story, I have omitted that detail). In the future, I might do a one-shot, but since I don't have any inspiration for that, it doesn't look likely. Feel free to give me any suggestions on that, but since I am the author, I reserve any rights to reject or accept the ideas.**

**(1) From the movie **_**Forrest Gump **_**(novel by Winston Groom).****  
><strong>**(2) From **_**The Gingerbread Man. **_**  
><strong>**(3) From **_**Sharden **_**by Alysha Speer.****  
><strong>**(4) From Tim Hutchinson.****  
><strong>**(5) From **_**Play of Passion **_**by Nalini Singh.****  
><strong>**(6) From **_**House of Mirth **_**by Edith Wharton.****  
><strong>**(7) Just a popular saying.****  
><strong>**(8) From **_**Heart of Darkness **_**by Joseph Conrad.****  
><strong>**(9) Pullox, son of Dionysus, had a twin brother Castor who had died in a battle in **_**The Battle of the Labyrinth.**_** That battle had also been on the forest's edge. In **_**The Last Olympian**_**, Mr. D had told Percy to protect his son.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	26. Chapter 27: Wounded

**Hello everyone! I am done with SATs! :D And to celebrate I am posting this chapter! Yay! (Although, I probably would have posted it anyways.)**

**Just a little warning: I hope you all didn't get too hyped up on the last chapter's extremely intense action because it's going to calm down for a bit, but only for like a few chapters and then more action so just bare with me because I have to set up for all this action-y stuff. **

**Answers to reviews:**

**Vans321: **Thank you so much for the compliments. I really enjoyed writing that chapter so I'm really glad you liked it too!

**Undy Pundy: **More action is too come! But for the next few chapters it will be a little more mellow, but the question now is 'what is Camp Half-Blood going to do?' O.o I'm glad you like this story so much! I'm pretty sure the titan of memory won't help Percy considering he like defeated the other titans and all… P.S. Yeah, your house sounds pretty strange. I mean you have a kangaroos and all that… P.P.S. Nico is like my favorite character so I'll try to incorporate him a little more. P.P.P.S. I'll just stop at three P.S.s this time…

**Thank you also to 3214sammy, Book freakz, angelfabeth, teen wolffffffff luva 123, Mythomagic-Champion, Electricprincess889, and Bookdancer. Your reviews keep me going! :D**

**Chapter 27 – Wounded **

**Percy's POV**

Night had most definitely come upon Camp Half-Blood

Torches and lamps were being lit here and there in order to ward off the darkness, but the light did little to chase away the heavy shadows and instead gave a certain eerie feeling to the clearing right outside the forest. The little bit of light that was strong enough to reach the woods made the trees in the front turn a ghostly white, but the rest of the trees remained swallowed in the gloom. The shadows of the campers scattered around were ostracized in the unnatural lights and threw creepy caricatures across the ground.

For Percy, all the unearthly shadows and lights just added to his own personal nightmare.

The bird-kid followed the son of Apollo without any question. There was no need for any words. Even Annabeth was silent at his side as they made their way hastily through the sea of demigods.

Percy's breath was coming out in ragged gasps. A combination of the leftover adrenaline and fear made his mind fuzzy and disoriented.

_Please be alright, Kai. Please. _

Percy remembered the scream he had thought he had heard in the heat of the battle. He had dismissed as one of the other campers or maybe an Eraser's, but looking back, Percy was sure that it had been Kai's. If only he had listened, maybe she wouldn't be in this mess.

Up ahead, he could see someone bent over another figure. Percy immediately recognized Will Solace as the one kneeling, and he could just make out Kai's dark hair and wings that nearly blended into the shadows.

Percy couldn't see much of Kai in the darkness, but the fact that she wasn't standing was enough to make the fear for his friend heighten.

"Ouch! That _hurt!_" a voice shouted.

"It's going to hurt more if you don't let me treat it," Will said, his calm, deep voice contrasting sharply with the previous angry one.

Percy relaxed slightly. Maybe the kid had exaggerated when he said that Kai was seriously injured because she definitely didn't sound that hurt.

Coming along side Will, Percy's stomach dropped when his earlier speculation had been proved wrong at first glance. Her mouth was perfectly fine, which resulted in the many curses and grumblings, but every other part of her body had not been left untouched.

Will had removed the remnants of her armor so that Percy now had clear view of the myriad of wounds. Her eyes were dull and glazed over with pain. Her face still held a familiar scowl, but the furrowed brows also held repressed agony and sweat beaded around her forehead. Her usually glossy wings where covered in dirt and missing clumps of feathers here and there. The sight that shocked him the most was her left arm, which was lying limply at an odd angle.

"What—what happened to your arm?" Percy managed to ask.

"That stupid fur-face over there is what happened," Kai snarled, but then grimaced as a new wave of pain hit her.

Percy looked to where she had gestured with her unbroken arm and saw a lump of fur lying a few feet away. He turned away from the grotesque sight.

"Are you all right?" Percy asked before he realized how stupid that sounded.

Apparently, Kai thought it seemed stupid too. "What do you think, idiot?" she growled and then winced again.

"Sorry," Percy said.

Kai started mumbling about "stupid Erasers" and "stupid questions."

"Can you get her to stop talking?" Will asked. "She's moving around too much, which shouldn't even be really possible with the amount of injuries she has."

Percy shook his head. "Sorry," Percy repeated. "It's pretty hard to get her to shut up."

"You've got that right," Kai growled to no one in particular. Percy wasn't even sure if she was addressing what he had just said at the moment or commenting on something she had just mumbled.

When Kai was scared or pissed, the after effect was that her mouth ran nonstop. The only exception Percy could think of was when they had first arrived at Camp Half-Blood, but that had been different.

"I'm going to have to pop her shoulder back into place." Will caught sight of the two confused looks and explained, "That Eraser dislocated her shoulder."

"It hurts worst than the whole of Hades," Kai growled.

Percy seriously doubted that claim.

"Can you help me hold her down?" Will spoke over Kai's complaints.

Percy looked doubtfully at his friend. It was pretty subtle right now, but he could still see some sparks dancing threateningly on the surface of her skin. In her current erratic state, there was no way Kai would be able to focus well enough to keep her electricity from accidently lashing out.

"Do you have something rubber?" Percy inquired. "Or else she might unintentionally hurt us."

Will took note of the small sparks for the first time and nodded. Looking over to the boy that had first informed Percy and Annabeth, he ordered, "Go to the dining hall and get some rubber gloves from the kitchen."

The Apollo kid looked confused. "Why—"

"Go!" Will urged and the kid took off without another question.

Once the kid was on his way, Will began working on the various other open wounds. His fingers moved skillfully as he cleaned and bandaged each one, but despite his obvious gentle touch, Kai couldn't hold back a pained cry or two.

"Percy, you should sit down so we can bandage you up," Annabeth said beside him.

Percy shook his head. "I'm not leaving Kai and plus I'm not… badly…"

The bird-kid trailed off when he realized something. Checking himself, Percy realized that compared to Kai, he was virtually untouched. Only minor, small scratches could be seen here and there.

Percy looked at Kai in confusion and he saw that she was staring right back, comprehension coming into her violet eyes.

"They didn't want to hurt you," she murmured.

Annabeth and Percy stared back in confusion.

"Why wouldn't they want to hurt me? We escaped together. In fact, I'm the one who opened the doors, not you. So why would they target you and not me?" Percy asked. He paused, trying to regain control of that frantic tone in his voice, but worry for Kai and the others made his voice rebel against him.

Kai blinked back sadly. She seemed to be calming down, but that only scared Percy more that her furious ranting. "They came for both of us, but they came to kill me," she said dully.

Percy's eyes widened in shock as he took in her injuries once again. One bloodied her neck. Another left a gaping hole in her side. Yet another was a ragged wound dangerously close to her heart. All were an attempt to take her life.

"But you're their perfect experiment," Percy protested. "You were the first success to graft wings onto an already developed human body."

Percy felt Annabeth's questioning gaze on him as she took in all the new information, but he was currently focused on Kai.

"I was only the first step Percy," Kai said, shaking her head, but then stopped when her neck injury caused her pain. Will gave her a sharp warning then continued his administrations. "They're after the _perfect_ Super Human. I no longer belonged in that category when they had you. The Erasers are most likely on orders to kill me and bring you back so that they can begin all over again with more demigods."

Percy felt sick.

Kai had almost died today. And the Whitecoats hadn't given up on him.

"I always thought that day was a little weird," Kai said softly. Percy gave her a questioning glance and she continued. "The day we escaped. That training was to kill me without you realizing it was the Whitecoats orders. My usefulness to them had expired. If the Whitecoats had killed me in cold blood, you might have become more difficult to control. If I had been killed in training, it might have appeared to be an accident and you would have taken your anger out on the Erasers."

Percy clenched his hands into hard balls, trying to keep his temper in check. Kai's explanation made sense. If she had died that day, he would have blamed the Erasers, which would have undoubtedly pleased the Whitecoats. Percy didn't know how she could talk so calmly about her own close calls with death.

Running feet interrupted the revelation and the Apollo kid came sprinting into view with rubber gloves waving in the air.

"Here," the kid gasped as he threw the gloves to Will.

Will caught them and handed some to Annabeth and Percy.

"Hold her down when I do this," he instructed, while pulling on some gloves. "I don't want her to thrash around and hurt herself more."

Annabeth and Percy nodded and when the gloves were in place, they positioned themselves around Kai.

Percy saw Will give Kai something to drink.

"It's not nectar," Will explained as he corked the bottle. "Hopefully, this stuff will dull some of the pain and keep her movements to a minimum."

"I hate it when you doctors give me that stuff," Kai said in a daze. Her thick voice showed that the drink was already doing its job. "So what operation are we doing today, Whitecoat?" She spat out the last word as if it were a curse.

Percy looked back at Kai and noticed that her eyes were starting to droop. Wincing slightly, Percy remembered all the times he had been drugged by the Whitecoats during the many experiments.

"If you can still hear me Kai, just listen," Will said.

"Sure, Doc," Kai slurred so that it was almost too hard to make out.

"I'm going to pop the shoulder back in. It's going to hurt but try not to move or let any electricity out," Will said.

Kai mumbled incoherent words before she closed her eyes. Percy was pretty sure she said something like "whatever."

"Is it going to be okay?" Percy asked, bracing himself to try to hold Kai down.

Will took hold of Kai's arm. "Her arm? Yeah, it'll be alright. I'm more worried about her other injuries. Without nectar or ambrosia, we'll have to do this the old fashion way. Get ready."

Percy turned his gaze away from Will and focused on Kai instead.

"On three," Will whispered. "One… two… three."

Percy heard a distinctive "pop" before Kai screamed bloody murder.

Her body automatically heaved itself upwards, but Annabeth and Percy pushed down on either side of her. Electricity sparked around Kai, and Percy winced as a stray bit of electricity licked the small piece of forearm that was still exposed, but for the most part, the gloves did their job at keeping the electricity at bay.

Only a few seconds passed before Kai's body collapsed back onto the ground and lay there in an unconscious heap.

Will breathed a sigh of relief. "Would have been a lot easier with ambrosia, but that will do. Let her body rest for a few minutes before taking her to the Big House. Don't move her too early or jostle her too much when you do pick her up," Will instructed before going off to help some other camper.

Percy sat back heavily to watch over his friend's body and Annabeth soon joined him.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth whispered.

Percy gave her a puzzled glance. "What for?" he asked.

The little bit of firelight allowed Percy to see Annabeth's throat constrict then relax as if she was trying to get rid of hard lump in there.

"For what Kai was talking about earlier… about the School. I'm sorry you had to go through that," Annabeth said brokenly.

Percy had only known Annabeth for a little over a week, but he knew that she wasn't one to apologize easily.

"It's not your fault," Percy answered, trying to make his voice dismissive, but it was hard when his friend lay torn up in front of him.

"You don't get it," Annabeth returned, her voice rising slightly. "I was there when you were captured. I was stupid enough to let them sneak up on us. I should have searched harder for you. I should have done more… You shouldn't have had to have gone through that."

Percy sat there for a second, absorbing the information that he didn't remember. Annabeth had never told him about his capture. He had assumed that he had been alone when he had been taken by the School like Kai said she had been.

"It's not your fault," he murmured. Annabeth did not look convinced so he tried something else. "And what about Kai?"

Annabeth looked up for the first time to meet his eyes.

"If I wasn't captured, I wouldn't have met Kai," he elaborated. "She would still be locked up in the School or even dead if I hadn't come. You see, I discovered my water powers when I controlled the hydraulic systems that were connected to the doors in the School. Kai couldn't escape without me."

The last part sounded a little egotistical, but it was true. His powers had been the obvious key to their escape. Understanding dawned in Annabeth's grey eyes and Percy felt encouraged to continue.

"And if it hadn't been me, then who? Some other demigod? According to Kai, there had been four other demigod experiments before me that had failed. If it hadn't been me, some other demigod might have died, perhaps more than just one."

Annabeth nodded slowly as it made sense to her. She looked back at Kai.

Although they still shared some harsh words with each other, Percy was pretty sure that Kai and Annabeth had become tentative friends in the past week. It was a weird friendship, but a friendship nonetheless.

Annabeth gave a small laugh that caught Percy's attention.

"When did you get so smart, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth said with a taunting half-smile.

Percy returned the small smile even though hers was clearly forced.

"I think we should get Kai to the Big House," he said, standing.

Annabeth nodded her agreement and helped Percy get Kai comfortably into his arms.

They had only taken a few steps before Annabeth spoke up again. "Who let those Erasers into camp?"

Percy nearly tripped over a branch. Looking back, he studied each demigod, unwilling to think that one of them could betray the camp like that. Who even had a connection to the School anyways? Or did someone have a grudge from his past and want him gone? Did Kai offend someone in the short time she was here?

The last possibility was not that unlikely, but Percy would like to believe that she had some restraint. To think someone would contact the School just because of some verbal insult from Kai was a bit much. Percy was certain it was something bigger than a simple grudge.

"Let's get to the Big House, get a good night's sleep, and call a counselor's meeting in the morning," Percy decided. "Am I allowed to call a counselor's meeting?"

"You're still the counselor of Cabin Three. I don't see why not. I think Chiron would have called for a meeting anyways," Annabeth told him.

Percy nodded and started towards the Big House again. He refused to look back at the wounded campers, hating the fact that one of them was a traitor.

**Any guesses on the traitor? Or is it even a camper that got the Erasers in? O.o If not a camper, a Whitecoat, a god, an Eraser, a Titan? I probably just really confused you all…**

**So what do you all think Camp Half-Blood should do now with the threat of Erasers?**

**I hope you all enjoyed this update. It was kind of short, but the next chapter is looking pretty long. **

**~Bluesky21543**


	27. Chapter 27 and a half: oneshot: You are?

**This is a one-shot/short chapter that would go between chapter 27 and chapter 28. Originally, I had written this chapter after 28, but for chronological sake, I went back and switched the two so that there is no confusion. If you want to read as it was written originally, then go forward and read chapter 28 and come back to this chapter.**

**If you haven't done so already check out the picture I drew of Kai (just take out the spaces):**

**bluesky21543 .deviantart.c om#/d5364px**

**Chapter 27 ½ - And You are…?**

**Percy's POV**

Percy rubbed his hands together, while his foot tapped restlessly on the wooden floor.

He had been sitting still for too long and his ADHD was starting to act up, telling him to climb the lava wall or fight some monsters in the woods or challenge Clarisse to a spar—anything but continue this useless wait.

A small mumble made Percy's head jerk up, but the girl in the bed only shifted slightly before stilling again.

Percy sighed. There was no use in waiting by Kai's bedside. Will had made sure that Kai would be unconscious for at least a couple of days so that the bird-girl would not accidently worsen her injuries.

Percy's eyes flickered to the needle half-buried in his friend's forearm before a chilling shiver traveled down his spine and he was forced to look away. The needle was connected to a tube which was slowly pumping a sedative into the girl's body. Kai needed it in order to heal, but that knowledge didn't make Percy any more comfortable about it.

If he felt this bad about needles, he'd hate to see Kai's reaction. The sedative would eventually loose its tranquilizing hold over the bird-girl and the demigod could only hope that Will had enough sense to take the needle out of Kai before she saw it.

"You're still here?" a voice asked from behind him. "Watching her like that is not going to make her heal any faster; plus, it's kind of creepy."

Percy cast a glance over his shoulder and caught the sight of Annabeth leaning against the doorframe.

The boy shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do. I'm not going to be much help for Will and the Apollo kids and the Ares cabin has the patrolling stuff under control."

Annabeth pushed herself off the doorframe and walked towards the bird-kid. "True, but the longer you sit here the more you're going to worry. Will says she's going to be fine, and I may not know Kai very well but she doesn't seem like to person who stays down for very long."

"Yeah, if it wasn't for the sedatives, I'm sure she would be storming around camp right now," Percy said with a small chuckle.

A silence stretch between the two demigods, and Percy once again became somber.

Annabeth took one look at Percy's face before exclaiming, "Okay, that's it. I'm kicking you out of here."

Percy jerked his head up and opened his mouth to protest.

"Kai will be fine. Your presence or lack of will make no difference in that fact. Just go away for an hour or two and give yourself a break," Annabeth said.

"But—"

Annabeth gave him a glare that made his next words die in his throat. Before he could fully comprehend what was going on, the girl had grabbed the front of his T-shirt, dragged him off his chair and across the room, and shut the door in his face.

"Go away, Seaweed Brain. You're making Kai claustrophobic," came Annabeth's muffled words from behind the door.

Percy glared at the door and once again opened his mouth to give a retort.

"You can come back in an hour," Annabeth's faint voice cut him off. "Until then, do something else."

Percy grabbed the doorknob, but found it locked.

"You do know that I could easily knock this door down, right?" Percy called through the door.

"Any demigod could," Annabeth snorted. "But you're not going to because Argos would be pissed at you and Chiron would make you fix it."

Defeated, the bird-kid turned away to exit the Big House. The day he found a way to outsmart a child of Athena was the day the world was going to end—until then, he might as well just follow her orders.

**Annabeth's POV**

The daughter of Athena kept her ear to the door until Percy's footsteps faded away. Cautiously, Annabeth unlocked the door and eased it open to check that Percy wasn't just sitting right outside the hallway. After a moment of searching for the demigod's mop of black hair and finding no sign of it, the girl closed the door with a satisfied sigh.

Annabeth walked towards Kai's bed and sat down in the chair previously occupied by Percy.

"When did that Seaweed Brain get so depressed all the time?" Annabeth wondered aloud.

Annabeth stared down at her hands, silently comparing the Percy-now and the Percy-then.

Of course she had seen Percy sad before. Being demigods, both of them had seen more than their fair share of deaths, especially during the Titan War, but the Percy-then had used his grief to fuel his drive to win and to protect. Now, the sadness just seemed to build on the bird-kid, making a burden almost as unbearable as holding up the sky.

Annabeth guessed that part of the reason for his sullen state was the loss of his memories, which contributed to his personality change.

Pushing aside the depressing thoughts, the daughter of Athena shifted her gaze to Kai's unconscious form.

"I blame you, eel-girl," Annabeth said, punched said girl lightly on her uninjured shoulder.

Naturally, Kai didn't respond.

**Percy's POV**

Percy looked out at the sea, but unfortunately, it did not have its usual calming effect on him. His mind was going a hundred miles an hour and the worse part about it was that he could do nothing to calm it down. He felt out of place within the camp. After the attack, the campers had immediately gone into some sort of routine—obviously, this had happened many times before. Percy, on the other hand, watched the process on the sidelines, feeling like he was only getting in the way if he tried to help.

Frustrated, Percy picked up a rock and threw as far as he could, watching it until it disappeared into the waves with a distant splash.

"Watch it. You'll scare away all the good catch."

Percy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Turning sharply to his right, he saw a middle aged man with a Hawaiian shirt and fishing trousers standing knee deep in the water. Percy had no idea how he could have missed the man, considering he was only a few feet away.

Finally getting over his surprise, Percy asked, "Sorry, what?"

"The good catch," the dark-haired man repeated, waving his fishing pole for emphasis. "You'll scare them away if you keep skipping rocks like that. And just a word of advice, you'll want to practice your rock skipping skills; you didn't even get one skip."

"I wasn't trying to skip rocks," Percy muttered.

"Then can I ask why you were scaring away my catch?" the man inquired while reeling in an empty line.

"I didn't know I was scaring them away," Percy defended himself. Another thought suddenly occurred to him. "Who are you anyways? Are you part of the camp?"

The fisher cast of his line out again before answering, "You could say that. I visit from time to time. Mostly, I just come here to fish."

"So you've been around a lot?" Percy didn't bother letting him answer the question. "Then you know what just happened."

"The recent Eraser attack," the man stated.

Percy nodded glumly even though the man was turned away from him and couldn't see it. With a tired sigh, Percy plopped down in the sand.

"Don't worry about her."

"What?" Percy asked, looking back at the man.

"Your friend. The injured one. She's got a lot of spunk. I, for one, would definitely not count her out of this fight. The battle's only just begun," the fisher answered mysteriously.

Percy gave the man an incredulous look. "That's comforting," the boy muttered.

"If you want, I could ask my nephew to come and take a look at her. He works during the day, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind coming by during the night to give her a short check-up," the man said. "He's a pretty good physician." (1)

Percy shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, the Apollo kids have already done all they can and they're just about as good as they get."

The fisher chuckled, "I'm sure no one's better than my nephew."

"Whatever," Percy mumbled.

Percy heard the water swish a little and when he looked up he saw that the fisher had shifted slightly in order to get a better view of him.

"You really don't remember me," the man murmured, half to himself.

The small comment triggered a small spark of anger in the boy. "Sorry, I don't remember you. I don't really remember anybody, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Isn't there?" the man countered.

Percy was slightly taken aback by the fisher's easy answer. A silence fell upon them as Percy's mind tried to decipher any hidden meaning behind the few words.

"Whoa, looks like the fish are starting to bite," the man shouted, breaking the silence. His fishing line had suddenly become taut, and he began to fight to bring in whatever fish was on the other side of the string.

"Wait a second," Percy said, standing up and wading so that he was almost right next to the man. "Are you saying that there's a way for me to remember on my own."

"Sure," the man grunted as he began to reel in the line. "Why wouldn't there?"

"There's a freakin' wall in my mind! Maybe that's why I haven't tried!" Percy argued back.

The man suddenly roared with laughter, seeming to shake the ground around them. "A wall? Is that all that's holding you back? Walls are of human's invention and easily broken down. If you had a mountain in your mind, I might understand why it has taken you so long."

Before Percy could respond, the fisher let out a loud grunt and jerked his arms back. A huge fish—maybe a marlin—exploded out of the water, a fishing line hooked in its mouth. Percy watched in amazement as the fish sailed over their heads and landed in the beach behind them.

"How'd you do that?" Percy asked in awe.

"This? He's only a small fry, not worth taking back home," the fisher responded as he led Percy over to where the fish was flopping around helplessly.

The fisher ran a gentle hand over the fish, stilling its movements. The sun glinted beautifully off the various blue scales that covered the fish's body.

"A beauty isn't he?" the fisherman said. "He has much life still in him. He shouldn't be wasted on my dinner plate."

Percy could only nod in agreement as he observed the wondrous leviathan.

"Well, back you go," the man said, hoisting the fish up.

With only one hand, the fisher easily grabbed the fish and tossed it back into the sea with a splash.

"A good day's fishing," the fisherman commented as they watched the dorsal fin of the fish disappear beneath the surface.

"Really? You just let your only catch go. Nice throw by the way," Percy said.

The man chuckled, "Fishing's not just about the fish you catch. It's about the company."

A headache was beginning to form in the back of Percy's mind and he raised a hand to his head in an attempt to ward it off.

"You'll remember, Percy. You just need the right motivation."

Startled by the random statement, Percy turned to the fisherman who was beginning to pack up his stuff.

"Wait, what?" he asked, the headache slowly getting worse.

"The right motivation," the man repeated. "She's standing right in front of you." The man turned, clearly ready to leave, but he paused as if he just remembered something.

Something flashed in the man's hand, and despite the headache, Percy's reflexes acted on their own accord and managed to catch the object the fisherman had thrown at him. Opening his hand, Percy saw a single golden drachma.

"I fixed the fountain in your room—the one you don't remember destroying. Call Tyson. He misses you."

Percy stared at the drachma. "Who the heck is—" Percy's eyes widened as the headache finally cleared. "You—You're Posei—"

Percy looked up to see the man had vanished, his footprints disappearing into the waves.

The demigod looked at the drachma and then back out at the waves. "Thanks Dad."

**There I did it. I hope you all happy.**

**Now you can see why I posted this early. I had wanted to do this on Father's Day like I had done for Mother's Day, but I was busy cooking dinner for my dad so I didn't have time to finish this until yesterday. So Happy (belated) Father's Day!**

**So hopefully this one-shot/chapter answers two of the frequently asked questions. (1) Poseidon did know about his son's disappearance, his time at the School, and his loss of memory, but he will not directly interfere with his children's affairs (look at Percy's quests—the help that he got from Poseidon was always indirect or nonexistent). This chapter also does show Poseidon's soft side though. I wanted to show that Poseidon cannot bring Percy's memories back, but is willing to give subtle advice and encouragement. Speaking of Percy's memories… (2) Percy will eventually get his memories back! Just be patient.**

**(1) If you're slightly confused, Poseidon is talking about Apollo.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	28. Chapter 28: Teenagers and Decisions

**I am back! ACT is done, finals are no more, and school is out! WhooHoo! Just to let you guys know: summer does not necessarily mean faster updates. I will try to keep consistently updating on my usually one-week schedule.**

**Answers to reviews:**

**3214sammy: **Wow, you like Kai better than Annabeth? Hahaha I feel honored that you like her so much . And about the demigod-experiment thing… yeah, you're just going to have to read this chapter.

**Mythomagic-Champion: **Hmm…I guess that Drew would be the most obvious choice… you're just going to have to wait and find out…

**You'reHighlightingTooMuch: **Wow! Long review! Don't worry; I'm not planning on bringing in any Titans since they're all pretty much defeated and such. Hahaha I'm glad you liked Kai's little rant and Kai in general. She's pretty fun to write. Thank you for all your compliments!

**Undy Pundy: **Good speculation on who let the Erasers in, but I'm not giving anything away, so XP. P.S. Then again I shouldn't be talking since my brother makes my house pretty weird too…. P.S.S. Hahaha Well, I only replied to two because there were so few reviews that week, but if it makes you feel any better, you're the only one I reply to consistently. P.P.P.S. These P.S.s are kind of getting crazy…

**Bookdancer: **Don't worry; there is more Percy whumpage to come. In fact, I've already started planning out this pretty awesome Percy-fighting thing. And thanks!

**Pjoperson: **Interesting theory… What make you say that?

**Daughterofthehunt: **Hahaha Drew would be an obvious choice since she's pretty despicable. You'll just have to wait and find out *evil smile*

**Thank you to Book freakz, angelfabeth, Limpet lamppost, the british epicface, and teen wolfffff luva.**

**Chapter 28 – Teenagers and Decisions**

**Percy's POV**

It wasn't actually until two days later that Percy was finally able to call a counselor's meeting.

Two days? Or maybe it was three. Percy really didn't know since all of the days since the attack just blended into one another making it a pretty miserable existence.

Between the last few days, Will and his siblings had been working non-stop with medical treatments. Thankfully, most of the demigods quickly recovered due to the nectar and ambrosia. Only a few were still taking residency in the Big House because of major injuries, but even they were expected to return to their own cabins the next day.

The one Percy was worried about was Kai. She hadn't woken up since the attack, but that might have been because Will was keeping her sedated. After her continuous ranting and movement Will had desperately tried to stop the day of the capture the flag game, the healer had decided keeping her quiet through medication was the best way for her to heal.

Kai was probably going to be pissed when she learned that she'd been drugged for multiple days, but Percy didn't really care about that. Since she couldn't have nectar or ambrosia, her healing process was lengthy and far worse than any other of the campers. Will had done some pretty cool magic healing thing, but she still didn't look very well off. Hopefully between Will's administrations and the School-induced healing factor (one of the few helpful things they had inherited from their experiences), Kai would soon once again rejoin the living.

The casualties of the attack had been low. Only eight demigods had been lost, which was significantly small compared the number of twenty-six dead Erasers. The count had surprised Percy since the invasion had been a complete surprise and the demigods had no weapons to defend themselves. Percy guessed that either their superior numbers had somewhat balanced out the odds with the Eraser's physical strength or the demigods were better at hand-to-hand combat than he thought… maybe a little of both.

Still, eight innocent lives had been lost, and when Percy watched their shrouds being burned, he swore to avenge their unfortunate deaths.

He had been a fool to allow himself to relax, to think the School couldn't reach him and Kai within the safety of the camp.

Nobody seemed to blame him or even Kai. The only instance had been when Clarisse had began to angrily yell at Kai (who fortunately wasn't there to retaliate) when a shroud had been burned for one of her brothers. Clarisse had blamed Kai for letting the Erasers in, but before anyone could agree with that claim, Rachel had stepped up and said that since Kai was not a demigod, she did not possess the power to let any outsider into the camp; therefore it had to be a person of godly blood who let the Erasers in.

The oracle had spoken, and the subject was dropped.

After that no one echoed any of Clarisse's accusations, but instead an uneasy suspicion fell over the camp and each person suspected his or her own siblings of betrayal.

The Ares cabin scheduled extra border patrols, events were canceled, and some campers left a little early, claiming that they needed the extra time to prepare for the upcoming school year. Nobody questioned the ones who left; there was no need to hear what was painfully obvious.

Percy heard from Annabeth that during the Second Titans War, there had been a spy within the camp, and although the spy was now viewed as a hero among the campers, it had left sour feelings. Now the event of a few nights ago was mirroring the desperately buried legacy of the first betrayal. (1)

Currently, Percy was sitting in another dreaded counselor's meeting.

The bird-kid briefly wondered if there had ever been a time in his past were he had actually enjoyed these meetings. If the answer was no, then Percy was somewhat grateful that those particular memories had stayed elusive because between the two meetings he could remember, he definitely could say that they were not very high up on the list of things he enjoyed doing in his spare time.

"I say we should attack them!"

"They're all the way in California. How are we supposed to transport a whole demigod army?"

"So what? We just take that attack?"

"Of course not! We've been heightening defenses—"

"'We?' What do mean 'we?' Ares has been the one doing all the work organizing the extra patrols!"

"We can't attack. We know nothing about them!"

"Also, there's the problem that our weapons don't work on them."

"Then _make _some weapons that will work! Isn't that what your cabin's job is?"

"The children of Hephaestus have better things to do then just making tools for you! Besides, people like you just go and break them as soon as you get them."

"We do not break our weapons!"

"Really? Then what about Maimer? _Both_ of them?" (2)

"Maimer? Doesn't he mean 'Lamer?'" (3)

"Neither of them were my fault! It was—"

"Enough!"

The last word came from a certain fiery, red-headed oracle whose green eyes were flashing in irritation. At the word, the heated argument quieted although Clarisse and a few others were still grumbling under their breath.

"We're diverging from the real issue here," Rachel said, still very angry.

Percy guessed that between the voices in her head and the voices outside, the oracle was close to snapping at any point.

There was a pregnant silence over the whole room until Will had the courage to speak up first.

"Have you received any vision, Rachel? Any prophesies?" the son of Apollo asked. Even though he had, had the least amount of sleep among the campers, Percy noticed that he was the only one who had remained unaffected by the anger and betrayal in this room. At least some people in this camp hadn't fully lost it.

Rachel sat back in her chair looking slightly fatigued and confused.

"No straight visions," she answered. "It was like when Percy first disappeared. There are pictures and glimpses of images, but no clear message and definitely nothing like a prophecy."

"Have the gods abandoned us?" a demigod asked.

Every eye turned to Mr. D who, for once, was actually sitting in on their meeting.

Mr. D raised an eyebrow when he realized that everyone was looking expectantly at him.

"Abandoned you?" he asked with faint surprise. "Clearly, you are all blind since I am obviously sitting right here." And with that the god went back to studying his soda can like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the gods," Rachel said. "I have a theory. I think it's more because the Erasers and the School are of the mortal world and really have nothing to do with the gods or their children."

"Well they do now," Travis Stoll pointed out, shooting a quick glance at Percy and his uncovered wings.

There were muttered agreements.

"Sorry to once again place things on your shoulders, Percy, but I think the best person to tell us what to do is you," Chiron spoke evenly.

Percy suddenly felt hot as several pairs of eyes swung over in his direction, and he wished that he had brought a jacket to cover up his wings.

The bird-kid looked down at his hands and then back at the counselors.

"I think—" Percy swallowed hard when his voice unintentionally cracked. He took in a deep breath and started again. "The Erasers are coming back."

He paused to let that sink in and allow himself time to gather his thoughts.

"The Erasers came here with two objectives," he said, finally looking up to meet his colleagues' stares. "One was to kill Kai. The other was to recapture me in order to start experiments all over again."

If Percy didn't have their attention before, he certainly did now. Only Annabeth and Will had known that fact, but now it was out in the open—no matter what delusions they had previously made, the School was now undoubtedly connected Camp Half-Blood.

"So they want you," Conner Stoll said dully. It wasn't a question.

Percy nodded. "They won't stop until they have me again. I was their perfect experiment, and when Kai and I escaped, I guess showing off my powers only made them want me more."

Percy paused again. That statement had made him sound like an object to be passed around. Was that what he was now? A burden, an experiment, a liability?

His face must have shown his hurt because a voice cut through his thoughts.

"You're not going anywhere."

Percy swung around to meet those steely gray eyes.

"What?" he managed. It was hard to talk when she was looking at him like that.

"You are not going anywhere," Annabeth repeated, enunciating each word.

Percy stared at her. How could she know that he was thinking about… leaving?

"Because I know you, Percy," the daughter of Athena said. "If you disappear again, I will hunt you down and make that School of yours seem like a vacation house."

Percy had no doubt that she would follow up on that promise.

Annabeth continued, "No one blames you for the attack. We knew that there was a possibility of a run in with the School even if you or Kai never said it out loud. But we will blame you if you run out on us again because whether you like it or not, the School knows we are here and I highly doubt that you are the only demigod that they have an interest in now. So you better help us figure out what to do."

Around the room, nods of agreement could be seen, Chiron's eyes shown with approval, and even Clarisse looked ready to compromise.

"And Percy, you're our friend," Grover put in. "We'll stand by you."

Nodding his thanks to Annabeth and Grover, Percy turned back to address the counselors. "Okay, if you're willing to listen, I can tell you what I think we should do." After another round of nods, Percy began to speak. "As much as I hate to say it, Clarisse's plan to attack them is the best action we can take. But I don't mean right away," Percy hastily added when Clarisse had jumped up to rub an "I-told-you-so" in Jake Mason's face.

Clarisse shot a glare at Percy, but sat down with only a small grumble.

"Since the School has made it very clear that they won't give up on either Kai or me, extra border patrols will only work for so long. If there really is a spy, there is no way to keep them out. An attack on the School will take several days, perhaps weeks of preparation, but if we effectively take them out, they won't be able to launch another attack on us. We will need weapons that are not celestial bronze and I guess the Pegasi are the best way to travel. And—"

Percy stopped abruptly. Just outside the door, it sounded like someone was running towards them.

The bird-kid turned around just in time to see a demigod burst through the door.

It took a moment, but Percy eventually realized that it was Ellie, the one who had so graciously greeted him on his first day back.

"Ellie," Chiron said. "Please, Child. We are having an important—"

"They took him!" she screamed before bursting into tears and covering her face with dirty hands.

Chiron looked confused. "Weren't you and your brother leaving today?"

For some reason, the question only encouraged more tears to spill.

Katie Gardner stood up and went to her friend's side.

"Hey," Katie said in a soothing voice. "Ellie, what are you talking about? This really isn't a good time…"

Ellie snapped her head out of her hands and began speaking rapidly. "W-we—I mean Mikey and I were going to leave t-today. I mean, we did leave, b-but then—ambush and Mikey—oh, gods—they took –and all the others too—I barely got away, but Mikey…"

Between the garbled words, the demigods did pick up ambush, and everyone then noticed the dirt and torn clothing and cuts all over Ellie's body.

"What's going on?" Clarisse snapped, tired of the incomplete gibberish.

"The wolf-men—Erasers took Mikey!" Ellie wailed before dissolving in tears again.

**xXx**

Whoever had made up the saying "When it rains, it pours" must have been a demigod.

In Percy's personal opinion, nobody, with the exception of maybe Kai, could understand that phrase better than a demigod.

Through broken sentences and interruptions, the counselors had pieced together that the Erasers had not retreated very far, but instead, had been camping out basically on their figurative doorsteps and abducting the kids that have been leaving during the past few days. Chiron took a small inventory and guessed that the Erasers had managed to snag about fifteen to twenty demigods.

Ellie and Mikey had told Chiron yesterday that they were going to leave and had every intention of doing so, but on their way out Erasers had attacked them, and Ellie had barely made it over the borderline in order to warn the rest of the demigods.

"So what are we going to do?" Travis asked when they had fished every bit of information out of a hysterical Ellie.

"Yes, please tell me what you all plan to do?" a new voice added.

Everybody whipped around to see a bandaged Kai standing in the doorway that they had forgotten to close when Ellie had come running in.

"Kailani!" Percy yelled, half-overjoyed to see that she was all right and half-irritated to see that she didn't have the sensibility to stay in bed. "How long have you been up?"

"Long enough," she answered. "A few hours. These walls are pretty thin and demigods are not the quietest people on the planet."

Percy exchanged glances with Annabeth. That means she probably heard the whole thing.

_Do you think they're still out there?_ Percy mentally asked Kai.

_They're not that stupid, _Kai replied. _They were probably ordered to gather as many kids without being seen. Now that they've been caught, they'll retreat with their booty in tow._

"You should be resting," Will spoke, unknowingly interrupting their silent conversation.

"How can I rest with all of you yelling like it's the end of the world," Kai questioned, sending accusing glares around the room.

Will ignored the statement and continued in his demanding doctor role. "You should be lying down. Movement will only agitate your wounds. Look, we got things here under control, so go back to bed."

"Bite me," Kai snapped back in a cold voice.

Will frowned, slightly miffed that his patient had talked back. He cast a perturbed glance at Percy, but the bird-kid could only shrug back. Despite their history together, he couldn't control Kai any better than Will could.

Will noticed the defeated look on Percy's face and resigned to only glower at his uncooperative patient. Kai either didn't notice or didn't care about the look. Probably the latter.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," a demigod muttered.

_Snap!_

A light bulb met its unfortunate doom when it had burned out quite suddenly. For some odd reason, it had exerted too much energy at once and the fragile bulb, unable to take the strain, made a tiny explosion.

Strangely enough, the bulb had been right over Kai.

Little pieces of broken glass rained down on Kai, but she didn't seem to notice.

Another demigod nudged the boy that had spoken painfully in the gut, and the boy cast a fearful glance at the still bird-girl.

Kai took a step forward. And then another.

The demigods instinctively shied away from her, but Kai only reached out and pulled back a chair.

"So." The sound of Kai's voice broke the spell over the demigods and made some of them jump slightly in their seats. "Is anyone going to answer my question? What are you going to do?"

When no else spoke up, Jake reluctantly began to explain, "Percy was saying that an invasion was the best way to combat the School."

Kai nodded, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "So how long will this take for us to be ready?"

Again, no one spoke up, so Jake continued talking for them. "We were thinking it would take about a week to gather the right weapons and prepare a plan."

At this, Kai's eyes snapped open. "A week," she repeated in a dangerous tone.

"We want to be ready," Annabeth said, taking up the explanation much to Jake's relief. "There is no way we can be properly prepared in a matter of days, let alone a few hours."

"In a week, it'll be too late. The Erasers will probably be able to get them there in a few days. I don't know how they get around so fast—maybe the School owns a private jet or something—but it won't take them long to deliver their new subjects. The very next day, experiments will begin. By the end of the week, the kids will be traumatized by the whole experience, turned into freaks, or dead." Kai stopped to let that sink in.

Ellie let out another ear-splitting wail.

Katie Gardner shot an accusing, albeit feeble glare at the bird-girl and asked for another tissue box.

"We need to send out a rescue team now," Kai said.

"Finally, someone is talking sense," Clarisse declared, seeming to have completely forgotten about her previous grudge towards the bird-girl.

"Sense?" Annabeth asked in a disbelieving voice. "How is blindly charging into an unknown battle ground sensible? How do you expect us to be ready now? We barely defeated the Erasers in our own camp. The only reason we won was because Mr. D drove them away before any drastic damage could be done."

Kai turned a surprised glance at the camp director.

"You were the one who drove the Erasers away?" she asked in surprise.

"Not quite the 'idiot' am I, hmm, Kaitlin?" the god answered, still observing the design on his coke can.

Percy's breath hitched in his throat as he remembered the comment Kai had made about the god nearly a week ago. He, Grover, and Annabeth shared worried looks.

Kai also looked surprised. "Oh, so you heard that," Kai muttered. Her cool demeanor didn't cover up the slight spike of fear that Percy felt from her.

"Hmmm," Mr. D intoned, still not looking at her.

The rest of the demigods were still as the watched in tense silence.

"So what?" Kai said, breaking the silence first. "Have I insulted you? Is your wrath going to rain down on me? Are you going to turn me into a dolphin?"

Mr. D's eyes didn't turn away from the soda can, but an eyebrow did rise slightly. "Hmmm, so you do know a little of your Greek mythology. You're a lot better in that then most of the brats here, but you still have that uncontrollable teenage temper." Mr. D sighed like that disappointed him. "Dolphins. Now those men were idiots. They mistook me for a prince, but anyone who saw my handsome face should know that I am nothing less than a god." (4)

If it was anybody else, Percy was sure that Kai would have made a snide remark, but the bird-girl kept quiet much to his relief. Despite this, Percy still was anxious; Mr. D could do anything to her at the moment.

For the first time, Mr. D's eyes broke away from the coke and he turned them to gaze listlessly at the bird-girl. "You are quite an interesting human, Kaleen."

"Wow, I'm so honored that you took interest in me," Kai said sarcastically, looking slightly miffed. Percy guessed that she was annoyed that Mr. D refused to call her by her real name.

"Anyways," the god continued, ignoring the interruption. "I found great interest in you after a certain incident that happened, hmm, oh, maybe three years ago."

Kai looked confused. "Three years ago? I hadn't even met Percy yet, let alone come to Camp Half-Blood."

Mr. D went back to looking at his coke can. "You really are dense. Do you think you really have to be here in order for me to be aware of your presence?" he questioned. "I was talking about when you nearly strayed into my territory."

"Your territory?" Kai echoed.

"Lunacy," the god said bluntly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You actually became dangerously close several times if I recall correctly. Normally, I would dismiss instances like these; there are many crazy people out there and I don't keep track of all of them, but you somehow warded it off. Very interesting indeed."

Once again, Mr. D broke his gaze away from the coke can to stare directly into Kai's eyes. Percy was sure that this was some sort of record.

"You could have easily lost your mind, but you didn't." The god of Wine looked more serious than Percy had ever seen him as he talked directly to Kai.

"So you're upset that you lost another loony to add to your fan-club," Kai said, crossing her arms and then wincing at the movement.

"You really are not listening," the god sighed. "I said that you were interesting. I have had many people added to my domain from that school of yours. They are quite good at driving people mad at that place, but I took no interest in them. That school drives people crazy, but the lunatics that come out of there are not the ones I find very exciting. Those lunatics don't know how to properly party," the god huffed as if this was a horrible crime in and of itself.

The god stood up and made his way towards the door, but before he left, Mr. D turned around.

"I guess the reason you asked me to sit in on your little meeting was to ask my opinion about the School and what we should do," the god said. "Well, here it is. Have my full blessing in taking down that School. They don't know how to make lunatics right. Theirs are a bunch of mindless slobs who should really have no part in my 'fan-club' as you call it." He turned around again, casting his last comments over his shoulders. "Do whatever you feel. If some of you get killed, that's fine with me. It means less of you brats to deal with."

And with that the god of Wine made his dramatic exit.

Kai let out a sigh once the god left. She relaxed and uncrossed her arms only to wince again when the movement caused her discomfort. Will sent her a disapproving glance, and this time Kai took note of it.

"Fine, fine," Kai said waving a dismissive hand at Will, but then stopped when pain shot up her arm. "I'm going back to bed, but let me just say this one thing. I know what I say is not the most logical plan for you war general types, but if you want to save your friends from the School, time is not a luxury we have. We must leave now."

The bird-girl abruptly stood up, her jet black wings slightly spread out. Percy wasn't sure if she did that out of reflex or in order to show the campers the consequences of waiting. Either way, the wings did draw their attention and Ellie's whimper only added to the desperate situation Kai had painted for them.

Briefly, Percy's ADHD mind flitted to myth of messengers of death who came on black wings. Growling slightly at himself, Percy shook his head to rid himself of the dark fable.

"I have given my opinion, and it's really up to you, but do keep in mind that I spent five years of my life in that prison. If anyone should know the minds of the Whitecoats, it's me," Kai said and followed Mr. D out the door.

Percy could never remember a time when he had ever seen his friend more tired or worn out before.

**xXx**

Percy slid the door to his cabin open slowly and immediately caught sight of Kai.

She was on her bed lying on her back so that her violet eyes had a perfect view of the ceiling.

"What'd they decide?" Kai asked dully.

Percy had a feeling she already knew the answer, but he told her anyways, "They're going to wait. At least for a few days."

Kai sighed, but didn't say anything else.

Percy came up beside her. He looked at the spot on the ceiling she was currently observing but didn't see anything particularly interesting about it, so he focused back down on her face again.

"I didn't know you cared so much about these campers Kai. I thought you hated people." Percy tried to keep his voice in a joking manner, but the situation would not allow it.

Kai snorted at Percy's failed attempt to lighten the mood. "Of course I hate people. Most people on the earth are idiots. It's just…" Kai swallowed and her voice became low and serious again. "It's just… I would never wish the School on anyone, not even my worst enemy."

Percy gave her a sad look and managed to catch the scowl that crossed her face for a second.

"Except maybe the Erasers. Yeah, the Erasers can die in that place for all I care."

Kai's scowl disappeared again and left an unfamiliar expression on her face. Percy was unsure about whether he should try to be sympathetic or crack a joke at this point. He briefly wondered if Kai was bipolar or something.

He opted for the sympathetic route when he noticed Kai's expression had changed again. The look she had now reminded Percy of the time she had discovered she had been locked up in the School for five years.

"Kai…" he began, but the girl beat him to the punch—not literally, but it certainly felt like it.

It seemed like a floodgate had been opened. Percy had never felt so many emotions coming from Kai at once. The sudden wave of emotions made Percy keel over.

Anger. Hurt. Fear. Pain. Doubt.

There seemed to be no end to the emotions that he received from Kai, but the last one nearly took his breath away.

It was, without a doubt, the strongest of the innumerable amount of feelings.

Sadness.

A wave of sadness made all the other emotions pale in comparison, and along with the this emotion, faces and names flashed through his mind.

Kyle. Amy. Rebecca. Alexander. Samir. Jose.

The confusing mass of names made not sense in the demigod's mind. He kept seeing unfamiliar faces broken into fragments by the wires and shadows of a cage, kids with flesh marred by countless scars.

Makayla. Riley. Christian. Ben. Yoon. Cliff. Hailey…

The list seemed endless…

Percy blinked, finally realizing what it meant and then he understood.

Kai was grieving. She had seen many kids pass through the prison called the School. Through the wire door of her cage, faces passed before her. Some would stay a while, but ultimately they all disappeared. She had watched them suffer, watched him suffer. And it didn't end. Demigods had died a few days ago. Some were still wounded. She felt responsible. So many were wounded, a few dead, and in all of it, Kai blamed herself.

Percy glanced at that impassive face that hid everything from the outside world. Not even the slightest flicker betrayed the inner turmoil.

She had hoped that the demigods would have been able to do something to stop more bloodshed…

Six years.

Six years ago, Kai had been captured.

For six years, Kai had been tortured.

And in six years, Kai still hadn't found a way out.

Kai finally turned her head to meet Percy's gaze. Even her violet eyes revealed nothing.

The flood of emotions stopped abruptly, and Percy could breathe again.

"Kai…" he managed to choke out, but she had already turned away from him.

"Good-night, Percy."

**xXx**

_Bam, bam, bam._

Percy groaned. What the heck was that noise? It had only been going on for a few seconds, but it was already getting on his nerves.

_Bam, bam, bam._

"Go away," Percy moaned. He wasn't really sure who he was talking too.

_Bam, bam, bam._

"Percy!"

The boy snapped his eyes open at Annabeth's voice. Grumbling under his breath, Percy decided to get up.

Swinging the door open before Annabeth could start hammering on it again, Percy caught sight of the frazzled demigod with one arm raised.

"What are you doing, Annabeth?" he asked, yawning. He looked at the sky and saw that the sun had barely come up. "What time is it?"

Annabeth seemed relieved when she saw Percy open the door, but when he opened it all the way, Annabeth's eyes widened when she took a peek inside.

"Percy, where's Kai?"

The bird-kid swung around to see that his roommate's bed was disheveled and unoccupied, but this was a common sight.

He turned back and shrugged.

"Kai's an early-riser. She likes to stretch her wings out in the morning," he answered easily.

Annabeth's eyebrows drew together in worry.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?" Percy asked.

"Nico couldn't find Mrs. O'Leary this morning when he went out to take her for her morning walk," Annabeth replied slowly. Percy could tell that she was desperately trying to keep her voice under control and this only served to make him suspicious.

"So?" Percy asked, not making any connections.

"Nico couldn't find her anywhere!" Annabeth exclaimed. "He even tried the dog whistle."

Percy knew he should be a little more worried about his dog, but Mrs. O'Leary was a hellhound. Nothing in its right mind would try to hurt a hellhound.

"I still don't see—"

"Percy," Annabeth interrupted. "Nico found this where Mrs. O'Leary was sleeping last night."

The girl held up something, and Percy felt like all the air had been knocked out of his lungs.

The object in Annabeth's hand was a single raven feather.

**Wow, that was extremely long, but I couldn't stop writing! So, the actions not over yet. We still need the final showdown between the School and Camp Half-Blood. More action to come…**

**I finally got around to drawing a picture of Kai. Here is the link (just take out the two spaces):**

**bluesky21543 .deviantart.c om#/d5364px**

**It's my first time drawing a whole figure so tell me what you think**

**(1) From **_**The Last Olympian. **_**  
>(2) "Maimer" was the name of the two spears that Clarisse had. The first one was destroyed by Percy in the <strong>_**Lightning Thief **_**and the second one was destroyed in **_**The Last Olympian **_**during the battle with the Drakon**_**. **_**  
>(3) "Lamer" is the nickname the campers gave Clarisse's spear behind her back.<br>(4) There's a myth about the dolphins. Some thieves mistook a sleeping Dionysus for a prince so they kidnapped him to hold him ransom. When they realized their mistake, they were already out at sea, so they threw themselves into the water in fear. Dionysus took pity on them and changed them into dolphins so that they didn't drown.**

**~Bluesky21543**


	29. Chapter 29: You're so Stupid

**Why am I a week late in updating? Well, my computer decided to stop working randomly and I was stupid enough not to make back-ups of my chapters. Luckily, I recovered everything so that I would not have to rewrite everything. I now have a working computer and a back-up for my chapters (yay!), but if I do disappear again, just assume my computer has stopped working. **

**Enough of my technology plights…**

**Okay, so this chapter takes place over the course of two days. It's kind of rushed and full of a lot of information, but I wanted to go quick so that I would get into the action scenes again. I hope you enjoy!**

**Answers to reviews: **

**Undy Pundy: **I kind of do want to make a sequel, but as of right now, I have no inspiration for one. *sigh* P.S. Are you out of school now? P.S.S. Yep! You are definitely MVR. P.S.S.S. Yes, yes, I would agree that your house is crazy. P.S.S.S.S. Thanks for the second review

**Roxas's Axel: **I hope the last chapter/one-shot satisfied you. When I imagine Poseidon, I think that he would be loving and protective but also restricted because he can't play favorites, and as a god, he can't interfere that much with mortals' lives. Don't worry; Percy will eventually get his memories back. I don't plan to make him amnesiac forever; in fact, I've already written the scene. Now all I have to do is get there… As for the Erasers, I kind of wondered about that too. In the Maximum Ride series, the author never specified their motivation to stay with the School, but they make easy soldiers so I wasn't going to change their role very much. Thanks for the review!

**Vans321: **haha Yes! You caught the bit of foreshadowing I'm glad that Poseidon was in character. I didn't really remember his character and didn't feel like going back to check so I was kinda winging it.

**Kaitie85386: **Thank you so much! I tried really hard to make Kai believable so your feedback is very encouraging.

**Max and The Halfblood Princess: **Thank you for the review! I'm glad you like Kai . I'm not saying anything specific about how Percy eventually regains his memories, but Annabeth does have at least a small part in it.

**Curious genius: **The reason for the Whitecoats interest in the demigods will be revealed later on. I don't know if they can make test-tube demigods, but I wouldn't put it past the Whitecoats to try. They're all about experimenting so they'll probably try any combination for the sake of science. The Whitecoats may do some stupid things, but they are certainly not stupid enough to try and capture a god; at least, not on their own. I don't know if they could make a full god… As the author of this story I'm just going to go ahead and say that no, they cannot make a god just by using demigod DNA. I would think this because I think making a god would take more than simple DNA. Thanks for the review!

**Random viewer: **Thank you! And here are the answers to your questions: (1) Yes, you will see the mysterious goddess again; don't worry , (2) I like to update weekly on either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday as long as nothing gets in the way of that. If I have a special chapter (like Chapter 28 ½, the one about Poseidon), I would probably post those on Wednesdays, but those are not very frequent, (3) I would assume Percy will have wings for the rest of his life unless they are amputated or something dreadful like that. The wings and bird DNA are now a permanent part of his body.

**BreeTico: **Thank you so much! Kai is pronounced "Ky." The way I remember is that is rhymes with "sky."

**The Corrupted Hobo Assassin: **You have a very interesting username… Anyways, thanks so much for your review! Yes, I did wonder that myself, but then I justified it with the fact that Mrs. O'Leary has not been exclusively attached to Percy (her previous owner was Deadalus and she was rather fond of both Charles Beckendorf and Nico) so Mrs. O'Leary does not have any issues with allowing Kai to ride on her back out of the camp (at least not in my story). If you don't remember, Mrs. O'Leary took quite a liking to Kai on their first meeting; this is most likely because Mrs. O'Leary sensed Percy's connection to Kai and in response was determined to make friends with the bird-girl. Therefore, we have dog-knapper in this story .

**Thank you to Mythomagic-Champion, book freakz, angelfabeth, acerchic, Bookdancer, and teenwolfffffluva. **

**Chapter 29 – You're so Stupid**

**Percy's POV**

"She took Mrs. O'Leary. She took my dog. I don't care if she saved my life a hundred times over. She can't take my dog. She's stupid, irrational, and a little thieving—"

_You know, Boss. Some people consider talking to yourself as a sign of going crazy. _

"Thanks Blackjack. I really needed that," Percy muttered.

Now that Percy thought about it, talking to one's self had been mainly Kai's habit. Great, after a year together, he was picking up her abnormalities, and for some reason, he was still going after her.

_Hey, Boss. _

"Don't call me 'Boss,'" Percy said, continuing his work.

_Sure, sure, Boss. Whatever you say. _

Percy just decided to give up at that point. Ever since the day Percy had reunited with his Pegasus, Blackjack would not shut up or stop calling him "Boss." Well, at least it was better than calling him "Lord" like the other Pegasi did.

_So, Boss. Just wondering, how many bags are you planning on putting on my back because I'm a pretty strong Pegasus, but umm, I can't carry too many bags and you at the same time. And from what you said, it sounds like we're going pretty far. _

"Don't worry, Blackjack," Percy assured the Pegasus. "It's not going to be that many bags, and I'll fly part of the time so you won't get tired out quickly."

The horse chuckled in the son of Poseidon's mind.

_It's kind of weird to see you with wings, Boss. I mean, you're a son of the sea king dude and the big guy up there can't really like that. _

"Don't remind me," Percy groaned. He finished up tying the last bag to Blackjack and began to double-check all the equipment.

"You're not any better than Kai if you just leave without telling anyone, Seaweed Brain," a voice called out, making him pause.

Percy spun around to see Annabeth standing there, arms crossed and a small smirk on her lips.

"I was going to leave a note," the bird-kid defended himself.

"Like that's _way _better than what Kai did," Annabeth snorted.

"How'd you know I would chase after her?" Percy asked, continuing his work with the few bags.

"Have you not been paying attention, Seaweed Brain? I. Know. You," the demigod announced. "And besides, you're not the only one who had the idea of going after her as soon as we found her missing.

Percy paused in his inspection long enough to give the girl a questioning look.

Annabeth gave an exasperated sigh. "Like it or not, Percy. You're no longer her only friend now. You and Kai are both going to have to deal with that fact."

"What happened to 'we have to plan things out' and 'we have to be ready?'" Percy asked.

Annabeth let out another noisy sigh. "You two happened that's what. You didn't give me a choice. And plus." Annabeth's voice softened and Percy's ears were barely able to pick up on it. "Kai may have been right about us not having much time."

Percy's lips tugged in a small smile. It wasn't everyday that a child of Athena admitted he or she was wrong, especially not this one. Percy opened his mouth to make a comment, but with a scathing glare from the girl, he wisely shut it again.

"So you're going to lead us to this School. We're going to find Kai, kick her butt for leaving, and then rescue the demigods while simultaneously shutting down the School," the demigod announced.

"Sounds like a plan," Percy chuckled, and then creased his brow in confusion. "Wait, 'us?'"

"Do you really think I haven't thought this through?" Annabeth asked, looking slightly insulted. "Athena always has a plan even if idiots like Kai try to mess them up."

With that Annabeth exited the stables, and Percy followed after her.

Outside, a whole mob of demigods was gathered. Percy's eyebrows rose at the sight. It wasn't the whole camp, but their numbers were still very impressive.

"You're all coming?" he asked.

"Of course, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "We're here whether if it's for you or Kai or—"

"Revenge!" a demigod—Percy was pretty sure it was Clarisse even if he couldn't see her—yelled out. A whole section filled with children of Ares raised their voices in cheers.

Someone else stepped forward, and Percy was sure that Ellie had the whole cabin of Hermes behind her.

"We're going too," Ellie sniffled. "They didn't just get Mikey. A lot of the ones who left were children of Hermes."

Percy nodded his thanks.

Another girl that Percy didn't recognize stepped forward. She was pretty buff for a girl and had a bandana wrapped around her hair.

"The cabin of Hephaestus is coming too," the girl said, putting her hands on her hips. Behind her, Jake nodded his agreement.

"We didn't have time to make many weapons, but we do have a few useable things," Jake added. "You're going to need them."

"Thanks, Jake," Percy said. "Thanks…"

"Nyssa," the girl said. "Your friend still owes me a couple of experiments with her electricity so let's go get her, shall we?"

Percy managed to nod his agreement before a heavy hand fell on his shoulder. Turning, Percy caught sight of Will's grim face.

"Yes, let's go fetch my patient," the son of Apollo agreed. For a person hid didn't do much fighting, Will looked about ready to murder a certain disobedient bird-girl.

Percy turned back to Annabeth slightly overwhelmed by the amount of people who had decided to come.

"You all are getting yourselves into a whole mess of trouble," he warned, only half-joking.

Annabeth ripped her eyes away from glaring at a flirty Drew and smirked at him. "We're demigods. Our lives spell trouble."

A sudden thought came to Percy's mind. "What do Chiron and Mr. D think about this?" he asked.

"Like Mr. D cares what we do," Annabeth snorted. "As for Chiron, he's used to us doing reckless things like this. They both more or less give their blessings."

"So what do we have to work with," Percy inquired.

"A good amount of weapons. Despite what the Hephaestus cabin says, they did get a lot done in only a few days. Whoever doesn't have a weapon will just have to make do," Annabeth informed him. "Nico and Grover have already gone ahead to scout and see if they can find Kai. Hermes and Apollo kids will prepare the Pegasi and all the rest of campers have already gathered the supplies we will need. All we're waiting for are your orders."

"Wow," Percy said, impressed. "You really did plan this out."

Annabeth smirked again. "I told you, Athena always has a plan."

**Kailani's POV**

"I'm an idiot, aren't I, Mrs. O'Leary?"

The hellhound gave a short bark and went back to burying her face into her paws. The shadow-traveling had tired her out, so she had basically collapsed where they had ended up. Luckily that had been next to a deserted highway and not some busy city. Landing in a city would have probably caused a raucous with a hellhound and triggered a panic attack for Kai.

Kai sighed. "And now I'm going crazy while I sit here talking to a dog named like my second grade teacher."

The hellhound opened one tired eye and fixed its red gaze on the bird-girl.

"No offense, Mrs. O'Leary, but why did he give you a name that reminds me of a grade teacher? Well, I guess it's better than something stupid like 'Killer.' You probably wouldn't like that would you?"

The hellhound in question just continued staring at the bird-girl.

"Sorry, I'm keeping you up, aren't I? I'll stop talking now," Kai said.

Mrs. O'Leary snuffled, closed her eyes, and began snoring.

Sighing again, Kai scooted over so she could lean against the dog's warm side. Kai tried to get comfortable, but with her myriad of wounds, it was nearly impossible.

As far as Kai was concerned, Will was a miracle worker (besides the whole thing with drugging her for several days… yeah, that had pretty much sucked). She had remembered passing out after a blinding pain and then waking up a few days later with the majority of her wounds healed, but of course, even the son of Apollo had his limits.

The wound on her neck had healed for the most part so that she could move it with little irritation, the scratches along her torso were still very visible yet not infected or anything, but her left arm still ached painfully. The arm hadn't needed a cast (thank the gods for that because it would have annoyed the bird-girl to no end), but Kai suddenly became very aware how much she actually used her left arm. Every minuscule movement shot pain up its entire length. Once, Kai had accidently hit it against a tree when they had come out of shadow-traveling. It had only been a slight bump, but it felt like the arm was being dislocated all over again, and Kai had to bite down on her tongue to avoid screaming. Kai was sure she could still taste the metallic tang of blood in her mouth.

Kai shifted around, trying to keep her movements to a minimum, and reached for her pack. She hadn't been _that_ stupid to leave camp without supplies.

Kai slowly undid the bandages around her arm, but despite her care to be gentle, a hiss of discomfort still escaped her lips. Only part of her upper arm had signs of any mauling; long scratches stretched across her skin where Bookworm had tried to latch his claws in. Below her elbow, her skin had been left unbroken; her armor had protected her from the Eraser's teeth and a possibly a fractured bone, but the pressure from his jaws had left serious internal injuries.

"I really hope Erasers don't have rabies," Kai muttered. "Because that's just gross. I suppose you don't know first aid, huh, Mrs. O'Leary?" Kai asked the hellhound. Her only response was a soft snore.

Sighing, Kai began to clumsily wrap her arm up again as she reflected on her journey.

Besides getting out of Camp Half-Blood and moving towards California, Kai wasn't sure what to do. And already that initial plan had fallen apart pretty much at the very beginning.

Kai had run into trouble as she took several wrong turns in shadow-traveling. She had only her memory to serve as guidance to work this shadow-traveling thing since she was sure asking Nico randomly would have been highly suspicious.

So many faulty starts and one worn-out hellhound later, Kai found herself stranded in Tennessee (…or something like that) in the middle of the night. In other words, Kai was hopelessly lost with a hellhound she didn't know how to guide, and now, she currently killing herself with her horrible bandaging skills.

She must have jerked her arm the wrong way because a sudden, sharp pain jolted through her arm, making her yell out and drop the bandages.

Mrs. O'Leary let out a mournful whimper and opened her eyes again to watch Kai grit her teeth in pain.

"You do it like that and your arm will never heal right, ya know."

Kai jumped to her feet in a matter of seconds after the unknown voice came out of seemingly no where. Her right hand came in front of her defensively.

"Whoa, there!" the voice called out. "Didn't mean to startle ya. I just thought that maybe you can use some help with that."

Kai was suddenly grateful that she had thought to cover up her wings. Then she cast a stray look at the hellhound behind her. Mrs. O'Leary was still sleeping and obviously unperturbed by their visitor. Could the stranger see her? Probably not or else he would have been running towards the hills right now.

"Come out where I can see you," Kai shouted into the darkness of the night.

Kai could hear a shuffling sound and a figure emerged. In the dark, Kai couldn't see much of her visitor. The moon glinted off his light hair and judging by his voice, he was pretty young. Other than that, Kai couldn't pick up much about him except he was currently walking towards her with his arms in the air as a sign of peace.

"That's far enough," Kai growled at him.

The stranger kept advancing.

Kai snarled another warning, feeling slightly cornered. She didn't want to use her powers in front of him—that would be a dead give away—and Mrs. O'Leary didn't seem like she would be moving any time soon.

"Dang, kid. Aren't you cold out here without a fire?" the stranger asked.

"I manage," Kai said curtly, still nervous about his approach.

"Well I can't," the stranger announced and immediately plopped down a few feet away. He began to tear up the grass in order to make a sort of fire pit. "Lucky for you, I brought some camp stuff. I'll have a fire going in no time."

Kai still stood above her visitor, wary of sudden movements.

The visitor looked up at her and gave her a hurt look. "You going to stay standing?"

"I like standing," Kai answered stubbornly.

The man shrugged. "Suit yourself." Looking behind Kai, he added, "Nice hellhound by the way."

Kai's eyes widened slightly. "You can see her?"

"Sure," the man answered. "I've seen a couple here and there. Never actually ridden one, but I heard they're a great way to travel." He paused and gave Kai a pointed look. "That is, if you know how to ride them properly."

Kai stiffened. "What are you? A stalker?" she hissed.

The man let out a hearty laugh. "My sister tends to think so. I'm just very… perceptive. You see a lot from where I work, and you stole Percy's dog right at dawn—that's when I begin work."

"You work at the camp?" Kai questioned.

"Nah, I work close enough though," the stranger said, going back to building his fire.

He had cleared a small circle of dirt and had placed a several pieces of wood in the center with some kindling. Holding his hand near the wood, the stranger snapped his fingers and they immediately became alive with fire.

Kai openly gaped at the man. "How did you—"

Her sentence was cut short as a wave of power emitted off the man, taking her by surprise. Kai felt herself stumbling until strong arms steadied her.

"Sorry, 'bout that. I didn't know that you were that sensitive to energy," the stranger said as he held her up by her shoulders.

"You just took me by surprise," Kai gasped as she adjusted to the energy she could feel radiating off her visitor.

"Next time, I'll give you a warning," the man chuckled.

Kai noticed that the man was still holding on to her. "I'm fine now," Kai snarled, yanking herself from his grip. Her left arm immediately protested the sharp movement and Kai bit back a yelp of pain.

"Let me take a look at that," the man said, coming up beside her again.

Kai shied away from his touch, electricity sparking on her skin to ward him off.

The man didn't seem bothered by the dangerous light. "Come on," he said, light-heartedly. "If you were to let anybody see that arm, it would be the god of medicine, right?"

Kai stopped her retreat long enough to give her visitor a hard stare. "God of medicine?" she repeated. "That would explain the fire and shifty job description."

"Apollo, god of the sun, medicine, and music at your service, ma'am," the man said giving a comical bow. "And I would not say driving a flaming chariot across the sky in order to give you humans warmth is 'shifty.'"

"It is when you act like a freakin' pervert," Kai retorted.

"Are you going to let me take a look at that arm?" the god asked, gesturing to the arm Kai was cradling protectively.

Kai looked doubtfully at him.

"I promise I won't bite," Apollo said, waggling his eyebrows playfully. "And there's a nice, warm fire over—"

"Fine," Kai cut him off, walking past him towards the inviting light.

Sitting down next to the bird-girl, Apollo gently took her left arms in his two hands and began inspecting it.

"So," Kai said after a moment of silence. "Do you know how shadow-traveling works?"

"Heard about it, read about it, never actually done it," the god said, poking at Kai's arm.

"But do you know how to do it?" Kai asked again.

"Well, it requires shadows and a dog and—"

"Are you actually going to answer my question?" Kai interrupted.

The god looked up from his inspection. "You're not very good at this game."

"Since when are we playing a game?" Kai snarled dangerously.

"Since—" The god stopped his sentence when he caught sight of Kai's scowl. "Hey, relax! I'm just playing with you!"

Kai's only answer was another scowl.

"Okay, okay. Well the first thing is that it works a whole lot better at night rather than at dawn. Kinda puts the 'shadow' in the 'shadow'-traveling, huh?" Apollo said, returning to his examination.

Kai's scowl lessened as she considered his words. "Well that was pretty dumb of me," Kai muttered.

"Yep," Apollo said, popping the "p."

"I wasn't asking for your opinion," Kai snapped.

"You know," Apollo said, giving her a sideways glance. "You're not being very nice to the one who built you a fire, is patching you up, and is willing to give you advice on your hellhound-steering skills.

Kai was silent for a moment and before she finally muttered, "Sorry."

"Say that again," Apollo replied cheekily. "I was busy fixing your arm."

"Sorry," Kai said a little bit louder.

"You know, I didn't quite hear—"

"Your ears a working perfectly fine," Kai cut in.

Apollo flashed her a smile. "But haven't you heard the saying 'third time's the charm?'"

Kai just stared at him silently.

"Right," Apollo said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Shadow-traveling."

Kai looked away and settle herself more comfortably in the grass.

"You'll probably have to wait until tomorrow night. You already tired out your hellhound, so I don't think she's going any where tonight. As for the actual traveling part, you'll want to point your hellhound at a deep shadow, preferably one created by a tree, but seeing that you managed to get yourself stuck in a grassland, a hill might work just as well. But before that, you'll want to tell your hellhound the address you're aiming for so that she has some sort of direction. Your hellhound will take care of the rest. It's as simple as that."

"Yeah… simple," Kai muttered.

"Well, you managed to make it like ten times harder," Apollo pointed out.

Kai gave the god a scathing look, but it was lost when he turned his gaze back to inspecting her arm.

"Your arm's as good as new," the god announced.

Kai's eyebrows rose skeptically at the exclamation. Apollo hadn't even bandaged it, just ran his hand over various sore areas on her arm. Hesitantly, Kai flexed her hand and to her surprise no pain came with the movement. With a few more tests, Kai threw caution to the wind and lifted her arm off Apollo's lap and rotated her shoulder. No pain. It really was as good as new.

"Don't look so surprised, kid," the god laughed. "They don't call me the god of medicine for nothing."

Kai stretched her arm across her body, enjoying the absence of pain that had been plaguing her for the last couple days.

"Well, kid. It's been fun talking with you, but I should get going. Dad's not all that fond of us gods interfering with mortals' issues. He says it's your problems to work out. But everyone can use a helping hand now and then, right?"

Apollo got up, brushed himself off, and prepared to leave.

"Hey, Apollo?"

The god turned to look at the bird-girl with one eyebrow raised.

"Thanks," Kai said, gesturing to the fire and her arm.

The god winked. "Get my son Paul out that School and we'll call it even."

**Annabeth's POV**

Annabeth couldn't stop staring.

Sure, she'd seen Percy fly once before, but that had been only for a few seconds and had left her in such a bad shock that she hadn't had time to really observe it. For the past hour now, Percy had been flying next to her, stroking the air powerfully with his grey wings.

Annabeth knew that Percy had, had the wings for at least a year now, but she never knew that he could be so… graceful. She knew that other campers were also watching their leader in wonder and awe. Seeing Pegasi fly was one thing—seeing one of their own fly was another.

"We'll be there a little after sunset," Percy's voice interrupted her musings.

Annabeth forced her gaze away from her friend long enough to take in her surroundings.

With the drive to rescue and avenge their friends, the demigods had assembled quickly and had left on the same morning of Kai's disappearance. As if sensing their riders' urgency, the Pegasi had taken off and carried the small army of demigods swiftly across the States. Now on their second day of traveling, they could only hope that they could catch up to Kai in time before she did more stupid stuff.

"What do we do once we get there?" Annabeth called over the wind.

Percy's green eyes rose up to meet hers and Annabeth couldn't help but smile. A fierce emerald fire burned in his eyes and nearly took Annabeth's breath away.

"I'm going to send a team ahead to scout out the place," Percy informed her. "We'll want to leave the Pegasi behind us."

"Leave them behind?" Annabeth questioned. "Wouldn't they give us an aerial advantage?"

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "But I don't know how many Whitecoats can see through the Mist. The risk of exposing more of the Greek world is too high. The more they see of it, the harder it will be to take down the School."

Annabeth smiled, more than a little impressed by Percy's foresight.

"Will!" Percy called out.

The son of Apollo fell back until he was flying right next to Percy.

"Take a group of demigods. You can decide the number, but keep it low because I don't want you seen," Percy ordered.

"And what are we doing?" Will asked.

"Scouting mission," Annabeth cut in. "Go ahead of us and report any Erasers, any landmarks, and anything suspicious."

"Also look for a place for us to land. It needs to be far enough from the School so that no humans, Erasers, or Whitecoats will be able to spot the Pegasi," Percy finished.

Will nodded his assent.

"You remember the coordinates of the School?" Annabeth asked.

Another nod.

Percy gave his dismissal and Will took off to gather his scouting party.

"You ready for this?" Annabeth inquired.

Percy looked at his fellow demigods and then at the horizon. "Let's just get this over with," he said grimly.

**Kailani's POV**

"I hate shadow-traveling," Kai muttered as she slid gracelessly off the hellhound's back.

Landing heavily on the ground, Kai stayed on her back and tried desperately to recover from the chilling experience of intense blackness.

Mrs. O'Leary came over and began to snuffle at the fallen bird-girl as if to ask what's wrong.

"You're laughing at me," Kai accused as the hellhound's panting ruffled her loose bangs.

As if to confirm Kai's point, Mrs. O'Leary gave a happy bark.

Using the hellhound as support, Kai got shakily to her feet to take in her surroundings. They had landed next to the Amargosa River. (1)

"Here and back again," Kai murmured.

Mrs. O'Leary whimpered and nudged Kai's hand with her nose.

Kai petted the hellhound affectionately. "Thanks for the ride and sorry that I put you through all that trouble girl," she told the hellhound. "You should go before things get ugly."

Mrs. O'Leary made an unsatisfied snuffle and began walking in the direction of the School.

"Hey!" Kai shouted, running after the hellhound. "You can't go there! Hellhound plus Whitecoats equals bad things."

Kai caught up to the hellhound and grabbed her collar to prevent her from going any further.

"Hey, I really appreciate all the help," Kai said. "But the School is not any place for a Greek being. We already tried that out with Percy and you know how that turned out."

Mrs. O'Leary gave a mournful whimper, but didn't move any more.

Kai gave the hellhound an awkward hug. "Tell Percy I said 'hi,' okay?"

Mrs. O'Leary just stared sadly at the bird-girl.

"See you later girl." And after a short pause, she added, "Maybe."

**Percy's POV**

"They're all around the School. Groups of maybe five or six. Just scattered randomly and patrolling. Obviously the School knew that we would try something like this."

Will finished giving his report and the various counselors that were present in their little rescue party all looked expectantly at Percy.

Percy stared at the ground, glad to be on solid earth again.

"Percy?" Jake said.

"Wait, let me think for a second," the bird-kid answered.

The Erasers had almost been successful at bringing both of the bird-kids back to the School on several occasions, so Percy knew the surrounding land better than he would have liked.

He mentally went over the information Will had just provided him and began to draw a rough map of the School and desert around it in the sand.

Small teams of Erasers were spread around the perimeter of the School, waiting for the demigods to show themselves. In order to get into the School, the demigods would have to gather the Erasers and take them down collectively.

Finally looking up, Percy announced, "Okay, here's what we do."

**Kailani's POV**

Kai landed right outside the School's gate and frowned.

_They actually got smarter, _Kai thought bitterly as she stared at the metal barrier. _Great…_

Flying over the various groups of Erasers had been easy enough. Kai thanked the gods that her wings were solid black. If they had splashes of white like Percy's wings, she would have ran the risk of being caught long before she got close to the School.

She had originally planned to fly over the gate like she had the day of their escape, but a disruption in the energy caused her to take a second glance. Landing just outside the gate, Kai could definitely feel some sort of charge running around the School like a force field. She didn't know how far the electric field extended but she really did not want to find out.

Kai narrowed her eyes and could easily pick out the foreboding silhouette of the School. All her instinct screamed to flee, but then Kai reached out to her left arm and she rubbed the smooth, unscarred skin.

"Still have to make it even," Kai muttered to herself.

Countless names and faces flashed through her mind, making her wince momentarily. She waited for the vision to end and the previous fear was suddenly quenched by her resolve.

"Plus there's always the fun in revenge," she added grimly.

"'Never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, 'I will take revenge, I will pay them back,' says the Lord.'"

Kai whipped around cursing at herself for allowing herself to get distracted so someone could sneak up on her.

"Romans 12:19," the Eraser finished, eying her steadily.

"I didn't know Erasers were interested in the Bible," Kai said, getting into a fighting stance.

The Eraser shrugged, ignoring her hostile glares. "You read what you get your hands on," he responded.

In the dying light of the sun, Kai could tell the Eraser hadn't transformed yet. He looked older than most of the Erasers she usually came across, maybe in his late twenties.

"I didn't know there was a second Bookworm," Kai said.

The Eraser chuckled, "The only difference is that I actually read. I don't know where Wormy picked up all his quotes."

"So where are your friends," Kai asked, trying to buy herself time in order to spread out her senses. She didn't want to be caught off guard again.

The Eraser shrugged again. "I'm patrolling alone tonight. Just happened to stumble across you talking to yourself. You always were a talker, A-22. It's a bad habit, especially when you're trying to sneak into this place."

"Thanks," Kai said. "I'll keep that in mind."

"I was wondering—hoping that you would come today," the Eraser told her evenly.

"Lucky you," Kai responded. "Here I am. You already call your friends?"

"Nope, I wanted to do this alone. Plus I'm sure none of my Eraser buddy's will approve of this," the Eraser said vaguely.

The Eraser looked through the fence to the School with an odd expression on his face.

"One more fight for old Gar," the Eraser murmured.

Kai did one more check to be sure that the Eraser really had come alone. Finding no other disruptions in the energy around her, the bird-girl leapt at the Eraser with a fierce cry.

**And I stop here. Quite abruptly too. Hmm…**

**So the final showdown is here! We are slowly getting closer to our conclusion… Aww, so bitter-sweet… **

**(1) If you remember in Chapter 14, Percy and Kai went to the Amargosa River to lose the Erasers. The Amargosa is a real river. **


	30. Chapter 30: Things Never Go as Planned

**Hello everyone!**

**I have nothing really special to say about this chapter so just read!**

**Answers to reviews: **

**Vans321: **I have a feeling you might be right…

**Undy Pundy: **Because! Cliffies are so evilly fun! BWAHAHAHA! Okay, enough of that; here is the end of my cliffhanger, but you're probably not going to like the end of this chapter… P.S. YAY for holidays! (In my case it's summer break, but isn't it like winter in Australia? That always confused me…) P.P.S. Hmm… that's true. I guess you could always PM if you feel like bugging me or if I make a sequel, we can do this all over again… Aww, sad… I must admit this weirdness of the P.S.'s always made me laugh P.P.P.S. I think we already established that… P.P.P.P.S. You forgot the "s" in your P.S.

**Angelfabeth: ** Yep, I thought it was time that Percy stopped being a wimp and start taking charge. As for Annabeth and Percy… It all depends on Percy and him getting his memories back.

**The Corrupted Hobo Assassin: **Since Kai's powers are derived from her eel DNA, it is a little different from Percy's powers over water. Her electricity is formed inside her and can be forced outside her body to be used defensively or offensively. There is a limit to how far she can project her energy since it is connected to her body and she can't solidify the electricity into any definable shape. I hope that answered your question.

**Book freakz: **Yeah, I realized that I never described Percy flying, so I thought that I would do a short scene of it that's not muddled by fights and stuff. As for the poor demigods who were captured… you'll just have to wait and see if they're okay or not… o.O

**Mythomagic-Champion: **Yeah, I'm kinda sad too, but stories have to end somewhere… I did consider putting a really bad haiku in there for Apollo, but I didn't feel like thinking (I'm not much of a poet) and I just settled for him teasing Kai.

**Curious Genius: **Dang, you ask some of the hardest questions… hahaha ;D I like your first idea about a sequel based on a test tube demigod. I'll have to see if I can actually figure out a storyline, but thanks for the suggestion. I do want to do a sequel, but I want to make sure I have a firm idea about what I'm going to do. You know what I mean? As for bringing in the original Maximum Ride characters, it's probably going to be a no because I haven't read all the books, so I don't know the story or the characters all that well; that's why I didn't use any of the MR characters in this story. And for Percy and Annabeth… Do they even want kids? I don't know… Truthfully, I think it would their problem to figure out. If I had to make a theory, I would say that Percy and Annabeth would be unable to have kids. There is a possibility though. I never specified how much bird DNA had been spliced into Percy. I know that Max and the gang had about 2% bird DNA, but Percy and Kai are both slightly different since both of them were not born with the DNA spliced in them. I would not think that being part god helps with producing kids though… I really don't see how that makes everything "better"…

**Guest (3): **It's summer vacation and you have nothing to do? Go out, hang with friends, read a book. Seriously, summer vacation, which means FREEDOM! Okay, sorry, enough with my random ranting… Thank you for your review! I'm really glad you like it So I counted, and I think there will be five to six more chapters including this one and the epilogue. I'm not really sure though because inspiration might hit me to do another chapter or another chapter might turn out short so I'll combine two chapters, but that should give you an idea about the length.

**Pjoperson: ** Hahaha No, I don't really expect you to remember what happened 16 chapters ago. That's the point of the side notes :P I like to give at least some of the Erasers some personality. There in their for only a short time, but some of them are super fun to make up. Thanks for your review!

**Thanks to all my reviewers and people who have added this story to their alerts or favorites. Special thanks to Acerchic, Guest (1), and Guest (2).**

**Chapter 30 – Things Never Go as Planned**

**Percy's POV**

"Well, the plan's working so far," Percy managed to get out between breathless gasps.

Annabeth shot the bird-kid an irritated look that said "duh."

Another ear-splitting Eraser howl ripped through the night, and somewhere in the distance, Percy could here an answering call.

Chancing a look back, Percy could easily see the twenty or so Erasers chasing them through the desert, and by the sound of their howls, more were sure to come.

"Percy," Annabeth said beside him. "How much further?"

Percy looked around at his small group of demigods that were currently fleeing the growing crowd of Erasers behind them. Everyone had a grim, determined look on their face, but underneath that, Percy could detect that each one of them were slowly getting worn out from their run. Breaths were coming in short gasps, eyes became glazed over, and sweat began to bead on their foreheads.

An Aphrodite kid stumbled near Percy, and without breaking his stride, the bird-kid grabbed her arm to steady her. Shooting a grateful look at Percy, the girl regained her balance and continued running.

"See that dark silhouette?" Percy finally answered Annabeth. "That's the canyon. There's a dead end in there; you'll just have to follow me there. Clarisse and her group are already safely hidden and waiting for us to lead the Erasers into the canyon. Once we reach that dead end that we're supposed to meet Clarisse's group in, we can turn and fight."

A steely glint entered the demigod's gray eyes. "Good," she said. "I'm tired of this running. It's about time these Erasers got what was coming to them."

With that said, the daughter of Athena put in an extra burst of speed. Following her efforts, the whole group of demigods doubled their efforts and pushed on through the desert.

"Cowards!" an Eraser yelled.

"Stand still and fight," another jeered. "Is this all the backbone the children of _gods _have?"

"See! They ain't special. They all just a bunch of low-life, worthless—"

"Keep running," Percy called out as loud as he dared, careful to not let the Erasers hear his words. "We're almost there and then..."

Percy let the unfinished sentence hang in the air, and the murmur passed through the demigods as thoughts of revenge and a chance to prove the Erasers wrong made the anticipation build.

The shadowy figure of the canyon soon surrounded them and Percy took the lead.

"Follow me!" Percy yelled over his shoulder.

The bird-kid expertly navigated through the canyons, having memorized it once when Kai and he had to hide out in it for a couple of days.

The bays of the Erasers sounded off the stone walls, making a horrible wailing sound that made the hairs on the back of Percy's neck stand on end.

"Just a little bit farther," Percy muttered to himself.

In the light of the moon, Percy could barely make out a forked path, but that hardly mattered to him. Clarisse and her group would be waiting at the end of the left path and then—

"Percy!"

The warning came too late as a heavy weight landed right on top of the demigod and began to dig its claws into his side.

Percy automatically swung out his right hand and was satisfied to hear a shriek of pain. The Eraser that had attacked him loosened his grip on the demigod and that was all he needed to wiggle his way out of the Eraser's hold.

The Eraser growled and attacked again, but Percy was ready this time and easily kicked the Eraser aside.

"What happened?" Percy asked to no one in particular.

The Erasers were _behind _them, so how…?

The stars finally cleared from his vision and the sight in front of him made Percy curse vehemently in Greek.

Erasers were emerging out of hiding spots all along the left canyon wall. With the moon also on the left, the Erasers had plenty of shadows to hide themselves in order to ambush the demigods.

"Crap," Annabeth muttered beside him.

The group of demigods had stopped dead in their path as their original plan fell apart. Another howl alerted them that they didn't have much time before they were ripped to shreds.

"What do we do?" Ellie whimpered.

"We go right," Percy ordered without hesitation and immediately took off.

The demigods didn't question the command and followed their leader further into the canyon.

"Cowards!" the Erasers yelled.

"This is bad. I mean really, _really _bad. Clarisse is on the left and we're going to the right. Not good. So not good," Ellie sputtered.

"Hey, Ellie!" a boy called out. "Less talking and more running."

"So what now, bird-boy," Annabeth panted.

Percy's mind raced to find a solution. Everything was going so well up until the last stretch.

First, they would find a group of Erasers, piss them off, and then go running around the desert. The Erasers would call their buddies and then they would all gather in one big group. Next was to lead them into the canyon where Clarisse and her group were hiding. With the solid canyon walls, it was suppose to be an easy surprise ambush, not the other way around.

"Any ideas, wise-girl?" Percy returned.

The demigod's gray eyes narrowed as she scrutinized the canyon walls.

"Climb!" she suddenly shouted.

The group halted and stared at the daughter of Athena in surprise.

"Climb!" she repeated. "Otherwise we'll be trapped in here."

Percy's eyes followed Annabeth's pointing finger to where she was gesturing towards a nearby wall.

"Just like the lava wall at camp," Percy commented. "Of course, it's without the molten magma trying to burn you to death."

"Great observation," Annabeth said sarcastically.

Percy looked back. He couldn't see the Erasers yet, but judging by their barks, they weren't far off.

Running to where Annabeth was directing a bunch of demigods up the wall, Percy said, "Here, give me your hand."

"Why?" she asked, turning towards him. "This really isn't the time to—"

Annabeth's sentence was cut short when Percy suddenly grabbed her wildly gesturing hand and pulled her close. Spreading out his wings, Percy gave a powerful thrust downward and the two lifted off the ground.

Annabeth gasped as the dirt suddenly disappeared beneath her feet and she instinctively drew nearer to Percy.

Percy's wings protested at the additional weight, but with a couple more powerful thrusts, Percy and Annabeth landed safely at the top of the canyon.

"Help everyone else up," Percy told a breathless Annabeth. "I'll distract the Erasers."

Annabeth managed to gather herself together again and gave her friend a solemn nod.

Without hesitation, Percy threw himself over the edge. The demigod reached the bottom of the canyon within a few seconds and caught sight of David who had taken over Annabeth's job in directing the remaining demigods up the stone wall.

"David!" Percy called out.

The son of Apollo hesitated in his work and cast a glance back at the bird-kid.

"Once you're up, send up a flare," Percy ordered. "Hopefully, Clarisse will know that the plan failed."

David clutched his bow tightly before nodding his understanding.

Turning back to his adversaries, Percy called out, "Hey, fur-face!"

Recognizing both the voice and the insult, the Erasers swung their heads to where Percy was standing alone in the middle of the canyon's path.

"So ya finally decided to stand and fight?" the Eraser in front sneered.

"I'm done running," Percy murmured.

With his resolve now set, the son of Poseidon leapt forward with a cry.

**Kailani's POV**

"You came alone? Are you stupid or something?"

Kai growled irritably at the Eraser that was now sitting at her side as they observed the School's foreboding silhouette together.

"Apparently I am since I've taken an _Eraser_ of all people as an ally," Kai hissed back.

"Do you have to say 'Eraser' like it's a week old, moldy pizza? And I have a name you know."

"Whatever, _Eraser," _Kai snarled back.

The Eraser stiffened. "It's Gar," he responded stubbornly.

Kai paused long enough in her inspection of the School to give the Eraser a long stare.

"Why did I agree to this?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Well, let's see. You came here alone. You have no way to get in. And you have no plan whatsoever as of how to infiltrate the School, avoid getting caught, and save your friends. Need I go on?" Gar said cheekily with a slight smile.

"I wasn't really asking for your opinion," Kai growled.

"Then why'd you ask the question aloud?" Gar inquired. After a moment's pause he answered his own question. "Oh, I know. You were doing your weird talking and mumbling to yourself thing again."

"Will you shut up?" Kai shouted.

Gar stiffened when her voice rose above their conversational whisper and he glanced around nervously. "Keep your voice down," he whispered as he peered into the darkness. "Although most Erasers are idiots, some might have the brains to keep an actually look out."

"Brains?" Kai scoffed. "Like you?"

Gar ignored the scornful tone in her voice. "More so than me. Not all Erasers have given into their animalistic nature. Many have retained human consciousness."

Kai quieted as she considered his words.

"Quit doing that," Kai suddenly muttered. "It's freaking me out."

"Doing what?" Gar asked looking at her strangely. "Or are you talking to yourself again?"

Kai scowled. "I'm talking to you, idiot."

"Then you're going to have to be a little more specific that 'it,'" Gar returned.

Kai's scowl deepened. "That thing where you keep switching. One minute, I feel like I'm talking to my little brother. The next minute, you get all serious like some old dude. It's freaking me out."

"Well, I am technically twelve," the Eraser answered calmly.

The small comment made Kai unintentionally wince.

Twelve.

The kid looked like he would be hitting thirty any time soon.

Kai cast a glance at the School. Yet another wonder of genetic engineering.

"Still doesn't explain the serious modes you go in," Kai said, trying to steer away from the topic of age.

Gar shrugged. "Call me bipolar. Maybe I have split personality. You know what the School's like even more than I do. It messes with your head."

Kai flinched again as she remembered her conversation with Mr. D and how close she had come to loosing her mind.

"Whatever it is," Gar continued. "It won't really matter after tonight."

Kai grit her teeth. Gar was pushing all her buttons. No, they weren't the buttons that would make her go into a flying rage of gnashing teeth and electricity, but she definitely felt like punching something to relieve all the frustration that was building up in her as a result of how confused he made her feel.

Gar just seemed too… _human._

Underneath that twenty-year-old face molded by the Whitecoats' hands, Kai could really see hints of that twelve-year-old boy.

Kai couldn't believe it.

For five years, Kai had been tortured by Gar's genetically engineered brethren. For more than a year, she and Percy had been fighting those Erasers to keep their so-called freedom.

After all that and much more, Kai couldn't believe that she could feel something like sympathy for one of those _Erasers. _

**Flashback  
>(Two hours before)<strong>

_The Eraser looked through the fence to the School with an odd expression on his face. _

"_One more fight for old Gar," the Eraser murmured. _

_Kai did one more check to be sure that the Eraser really had come alone. Finding no other disruptions in the energy around her, the bird-girl leapt at the Eraser with a fierce cry. _

_At the sound of her battle cry, Eraser immediately snapped into action. _

"_Wait," the Eraser said, holding up his hands. "I have something to tell—ask you."_

_Kai aimed a kick at the Eraser, but he quickly dodged to the side so that the bird-girl went harmlessly pass him. Before she even hit the ground, Kai unfurled her wings and took the sky so that she hovered over the Eraser. _

"_I don't want to fight," the Eraser called up to her._

"_Yeah right," Kai snarled back to him. _

"_No, really. I don't want to—" the Eraser stopped his sentence as he had to quickly dodge to one side in order to avoid Kai's nosedive. "My name's Gar. I want to help you take down the School and rescue your friends."_

"_This is a new tactic," Kai said as she rose into the air again. "I've never had an Eraser pretend to be my friend. What's the game?"_

"_No game," the Eraser replied desperately. "I just—I don't…"_

_Kai narrowed her eyes as the Eraser tried to pull himself together. She didn't know why she was still in the sky instead of attacking, but something was different about this Eraser. Kai had seen and fought many Erasers before and none of them had tried to start a conversation with her. It was only insults thrown back and forth. _

"_Look," the Eraser named Gar sighed, holding his hands up in a defensive manner. "I know you probably hate my guts and I have nothing to prove to you that I'm telling the truth, but you're going to have to trust me."_

"_And why the heck would I do that?" Kai growled back. _

_Gar looked up and smirked. "How do you plan to get into the School?" he asked as his hand gestured to the building behind her. _

_Kai froze. _

_The bird-girl tightened her jaw, but a slight flickering in her eyes betrayed her sudden unease and indecision. _

"_I'll figure it out," Kai spat back, but her words sounded hollow even in her own ears. _

"_Really?" Gar challenged. "There's an electric force field set up around the whole perimeter of the School—you have your escaping stunt to thank for that new feature—and the only entrance is a solid metal gate with Erasers guarding it on both sides. I guess you could always short circuit the force field, but you'll have to be on the inside to do that."_

_Kai stared blankly at the Eraser as her mind processed the new information. _

"_You're better off with me, A-22," Gar finished. He turned away and began walking slowly off as if he expected Kai to follow. _

_Kai still hovered in the air, unsure of what to do… but the Eraser had made some pretty good points—one of them being that she had absolutely no idea about how she was going to take down the School single-handedly. Hated herself, Kai gently lowered herself to the ground. _

"_Don't call me that," Kai muttered. _

"_What?" Gar asked, turning slightly so he could see her out of the corner of his eye. _

"_Name's not 'A-22,'" Kai said a little bit louder. _

_Gar blinked in confusion and then finally realized what she was referring to. A smile slowly crept onto his face as he replied, "Common courtesy is that you tell me your name after I say mine. You already know my name's Gar. And you are…?"_

_Kai stared distastefully at his offered hand. "You can call me Raven," she said walking past the Eraser and leaving his hand unshaken. _

"_Raven," Gar repeated. "Dark. Vague. Obviously self-given. Yeah, I would say that fits you… Hey! Wait for me!" _

_Gar took off is a slow jog after Kai's retreating form. He had almost reached her when—_

Bam!

_Gar fell back in a slightly stunned heap. Kai stood above him; her clenched hand had a hint of electricity sparking around it. _

"_You say you want to help me," Kai growled down at the Eraser. "Then answer a few questions for me. First, why would an Eraser want to help me?" _

_Gar had recovered from Kai's punch and made a motion to stand, but a dangerous flash from the bird-girl's eyes warned him to stay down. _

"_You think you're the only one who wants the School taken down? You think you're the only one who was hurt by the School?" Gar asked in a tight voice. "Erasers are easily controlled because of their trainable, animalistic nature, but there are some of us who retain the capacity to think and decide for ourselves. I've decided for myself. And I've decided that I don't want anything to do with the School any more."_

"_If you've felt like this, why haven't you done anything before this?" Kai asked. _

"_Never had the opportunity," Gar returned easily. "I've never been in contact with you before, none of the other experiments have the intelligence to try something like this, and if any other Erasers share my opinions, it's too risky to discuss within the School. Plus, something happened just a few days ago that killed any doubt that might have lingered in my mind."_

_Kai stayed quiet, encouraging him to continue with her silence. _

_Gar let out a heavy sigh before reaching up to his collar. "Do you know what this is?" he asked quietly as he hand pulled down the collar of his shirt. _

_The first thing Kai noticed was how pale Gar's skin was because it only made the black ink even that more prominent in the moonlight. Several bars where etched into his neck like a crude barcode. Just underneath the inky gashes were a couple of indistinct numbers, but Kai didn't need to get close to see what they said. _

"_Your expiration date," Kai said dully. "Those numbers… Your date's today isn't it."_

_Gar released his collar so that the barcode and numbers were covered again. _

"_So you do know what it is," he stated. "I thought you might. That's why I was so desperately hoping that you would arrive today."_

"_Of course I know what those are," Kai said. "I've lived at the School for five years. I've seen many Erasers come and go, just like all of the other experiments."_

_Gar nodded grimly. "I wanted to help you. I wanted to do something… before I died…"_

_Kai narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the Eraser's body language._

_Expiration dates were something only Erasers got as far as she knew. They were an Eraser's worst nightmare. The phrase "expiration date" was just a nicer way of saying "death day". (1)_

_When Eraser's expiration date appeared on their necks, each one would go through various kinds of reactions. Some would become reclusive and pass away quietly. Others would start eating, partying, and getting drunk in order to fully live out the expression YOLO. The more unstable and radical Erasers would become crazy, fierce fighters in the arena, trying to take out their anger on her. _

_Kai studied the Eraser in front of her. His whole body spoke of determination to do one last thing before his time ran out—something that counted. _

_But what if it was a trick?_

_Kai paused as the question flitted across her mind. _

_Mentally shrugging, Kai decided that she would just kill him if he tried any double-cross. _

_Making up her mind, Kai began walking away from the Eraser, leaving him slightly confused. _

_Kai stopped in her tracks when she realized that the Eraser was still sitting in the dirt behind her. _

"_Well?" she asked, casting a perturbed look over her shoulder. _

_The sound of her voice snapped the Eraser out whatever trance he had been in and he hastily got to his feet. _

"_So—" Gar began. _

"_One foot in the wrong direction and I can ensure that the time of your expiration will come a whole lot faster," Kai cut in. _

_Gar wisely shut his mouth. _

_Kai led him away from the School and once she felt like she had put enough distance between them and the building, she said, "So, you're going to tell me everything that I need to know and how you plan to get me into that School."_

**End of Flashback**

Kai shook her head to dispel her short recollection.

_This isn't a time to get distracted, _Kai growled to herself. But telling herself that didn't stop the slight twinge of sadness.

_Another face. Another name. _

"You're making me depressed," Kai muttered.

Gar shrugged. "I apologize for my bad company."

Kai sighed. It wasn't the kid's fault.

Kai looked at the strange Eraser beside her. "You ready for this, Gar?"

The Eraser lifted an eyebrow in surprise; it was the first time she had actually used his name. "Not particularly," he responded as he scanned the horizon. After a moment's pause, he got to his feet. "Come on, Raven. It's time."

**Percy's POV**

Percy flew over the edge of the canyon and landed lightly on the edge.

"Percy!"

The boy turned around to see Annabeth and the other demigods run up to him.

"They'll be up soon," he informed them. "We should get out of here before they make it up the cliff."

Annabeth and David shared glances.

"No," Annabeth finally said.

Percy opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but then thought twice about arguing with a daughter of Athena.

"We're done running," Annabeth continued.

An Eraser's howl made the hairs on the back of Percy's neck stand on edge, but Annabeth's words repeated themselves inside his mind. Hadn't he just said those exact same words on the bottom of the canyon?

Percy looked around at his group of demigods. He had about fifteen demigods and the Erasers climbing up the side of the cliff right now nearly doubled—possibly tripled—that number, but Percy could tell by the looks in their faces that they wouldn't budge.

Percy turned back to Annabeth, nodding slowly.

The daughter of Athena smirked as she walked over to the edge of the cliff.

"Plus," she said. "The Erasers are sitting ducks on this ledge." As if to prove her point, Annabeth delivered a devastating kick to the first Eraser that popped up over the edge.

David chuckled next to Percy. "They're practically defenseless," the boy commented before joining Annabeth at kicking back the Erasers.

Percy and the other demigods soon caught onto Annabeth's idea and they all lined up at the edge and kept the Erasers at bay.

The Erasers growled at the demigods as they rained down punches and kicks on their unprotected faces.

Percy had just made another Eraser loose his grip on the rocks when a frightened scream brought his attention back to his group of demigods.

A girl was trying to fight an Eraser back, but another Eraser had popped up over the edge and grabbed her foot, making her fall. The first Eraser now stood over her ready to deal a blow to the cowering demigod.

Percy let out a battle cry as he unfurled his wings and launched himself at the Eraser. He barreled into the Eraser and it went tumbling a few feet away. The second Eraser snarled at Percy and proceeded to haul himself up, but before he was completely over the edge, Percy sent a kick towards his face and the Eraser fell back with a startled cry.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked as he offered the girl his hand.

"I—I think so," she answered.

Percy turned back to the fight and saw that even though the demigods had the advantage of position, there were too many Erasers coming up at once to keep track of them all. They were going to be overwhelmed in a few minutes.

"Percy!" a boy called. "More Erasers are coming over there."

Percy looked to where the boy was pointing and could make up a dust cloud made by Erasers' tramping feet.

"This can't get much worse," Percy muttered.

"Don't say stuff like that," a voice suddenly appeared at his side. "You'll just jinx it."

Percy jumped slightly and whirled around to meet Nyssa's face. Taking a surprised step backwards, Percy noticed that she had five other demigods with her.

"Where're Clarisse and the rest?" Percy questioned.

"When you didn't come when we expected you, Clarisse sent us out to check it out. I'm pretty sure that she's not far behind us since you sent up the flare," Nyssa responded. "Trust me; Clarisse is not far from a fight."

"Well, I'm glad you're here because we're going to need the help soon," Annabeth said coming up beside them.

Nyssa snorted, "Yeah, I see that. You guys already started the party without us. Oh, and you'll need these."

The reached into her pack and brought out a dagger and a sword.

"Steel," Nyssa announced. "Just what the doctor ordered."

Percy accepted the sword and was pleased to find that it wasn't much too different from Riptide.

"Demigods, fallback," he shouted raising the sword.

The demigods withdrew from the edge and the Erasers were able to haul themselves up and they ran to join their own reinforcements.

"Clarisse's groups is coming!" a demigod shouted, pointing to the quickly approaching crowd.

"The Eraser's are ready to attack at any moment," Annabeth said bringing the attention back to the Erasers in front of them.

"Then we'll meet them," Percy shouted over the growing noise of excitement and nervousness.

The Erasers had finished regrouping and now faced the opposing demigods.

"Attack!" an Eraser howled, and they surged forward.

A cry went up from the group of demigods and the others immediately took it up and raised their weapons as a challenge.

Percy found himself at the front of the group and led the charge.

The two sides met in a sudden explosion of chaotic sounds and whirling limbs and teeth.

Percy kicked aside the first Eraser that came across his path and he raised his sword to challenge the second Eraser.

The bird-kid instantly recognized him.

"Malone," Percy muttered under his breath.

The Eraser who had been a continuous source of taunts and torture let a feral grin spread across his grotesque face. (2)

"Freak," the Eraser spat back. Malone took a look at the gleaming sword in Percy's hand and snorted in contempt. "'ave you not learned? Those weapons of your can't 'urt me."

The Eraser leapt forward, claws extended outwards. Percy stepped easily aside and swept the sword towards the Eraser's undefended belly.

Blood splashed against the sand and the Eraser made a horrified sound as he crashed onto the ground as an unexpected pain shot through his entire body.

"Impossible," Malone snarled, clutching the wound in his side. "I can't be touched by that fancy metal of yours."

"Check your eyes, Malone," Percy said, lifting the weapon so that it caught the light of the moon. "This sword is silver not gold."

A flicker of fear appeared in the Eraser's eyes, but it was gone so fast that Percy wasn't even sure it had been there.

"They 'ave steel weapons," Malone shouted to his brethren.

Percy went back into a fighting stance as Malone raised himself to his feet.

"But it don't matter," Malone said evenly to Percy. "'Cause you all dead!"

With the last word, the Eraser leapt at Percy slashing wildly with his claws. Percy easily fended them off, but noticed that he and his friend were being slowly pushed back towards the edge of the cliff.

"Come on Clarisse," Percy muttered. "Where are you?"

Malone ignored another slash that opened a wound on his shoulder and managed to nick the side of Percy's cheek, drawing blood.

Panicked howls could suddenly be heard to his left and Percy turned to see that Clarisse's reinforcements had arrived and were currently causing chaos. A smile crept onto the demigod's face as the Erasers began to become even more confused with the growing number of demigods.

"What the—" Malone exclaimed, looking to find out what was causing the mess.

Percy took advantage of his distraction and plunged his sword into the Eraser's belly.

Malone let out a gurgling cry as he realized his mistake. His right hand clawed futilely at the metal protruding from his body. Letting out one last angry growl, the Eraser slowly fell to the ground as his knees gave out underneath him and the light died in his eyes.

Percy pushed his matted hair out of his eyes to check his surroundings. Demigods definitely had the upper hand in this battle. The steel weapons had been a nasty surprise for the Erasers and Clarisse's reinforcements had arrived just in time before anything could have gone horribly wrong.

Percy turned to share his excitement with Annabeth only to find the blonde demigod no where to be seen. Turning quickly, Percy looked for his friend and caught sight of something that made his breath hitch in his throat.

"No! Annabeth!"

**Yeah, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to end the chapter like this, but it turned out way longer than I expected so I needed to end it somewhere.**

**If you are going to review this story as a guest, please end it with a username/pen-name so that I don't have to label you all as Guest (1), Guest (2), etc. **

**(1) The "expiration dates" are a part of the Maximum Ride series. Erasers only live for about four to seven years after their mutations or whatever you call it. A "date" appears on their necks and signal that they don't have very much longer to live.  
>(2) Malone is the Eraser that kidnapped Percy (but of course Percy doesn't remember that and I really don't expect you guys to remember that either). I just decided to give him closure (death) and bring him back for one short scene. <strong>

**~Bluesky21543**


	31. Chapter 31: Too Close to the Edge

**Hello everyone! We are getting closer and closer to the end. So bitter-sweet… Anyways, I'm sure you've all been waiting for this chapter, so I'll shut up and let you read **

**Answers to reviews:**

**Noah: **I really doubt you will be reading this, but in the off chance that you might be reading it, I decided to reply because I found your review really interesting. If you didn't like this story to begin with, I don't know why you continued reading this so far in (usually, I stop reading after the first or second chapter if I don't like it). I only write for fun and do not strive for perfection in my writing (so no, I do not call myself a writer). Also I promise you I had no intention of paraphrasing the MR series; I only read two or three books of the MR series because they were not my favorite series out there (I only found the School interesting) and on top of that, I read those books over two years ago because of a friend's suggestion—therefore, I hope you believe me when I say that I was not reading through the series and writing my story as I go. Truthfully, I don't think that Percy belongs in any story but Rick Riordan's, but that is why it is called "fanfiction." These stories are only for fun and a way for people to stretch their imaginations. I'm sorry that you apparently found this story so offensive, and I can't honestly say that I appreciated your review, but I will say that I would have preferred advice or suggestions to make this story better instead of constant criticism.

**Undy Pundy: **Good news! This chapter does not end on a cliffhanger (at least not in my opinion), so I think you're in the clear. P.S. Wow, Australia is really different than US. Probably because we're on opposite sides of the world… P.P.S. I shall check your story out sometime As for a sequel… I'm still not sure if one will appear or not. P.P.P.S. When I went to the flashback and said that Kai had just arrived at the School, I meant that she had just arrived after ditching Percy at the camp. It wasn't an error, but I fixed it anyways (it says something like "two hours before" or something like that. Thanks for pointing that out P.P.P.P.S. Thanks for the extra review. Yeah whoever Noah is woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something, but he is entitled to his/her opinion.

**Maker0914: **Thank you for your review! What to mean by "gantlet"? Do you mean "gauntlet" like the glove?

**Thank you also to angelfabeth, Mythomagic-Champion, Random reviewer, and teenwolfffffluva for your reviews. **

**Chapter 31 – Too Close to the Edge**

**Gar's POV**

The Eraser let out a gusty sigh before squaring his shoulders and steeling his face. He allowed himself one last glance backwards. The shadows a few yards away from him shifted slightly and he could almost imagine Raven's scowl urging him forward.

After taking another moment to collect himself, Gar approached the gate.

"Hold!"

Unsurprised by the voice, Gar obediently stopped in his tracks and permitted the two Erasers to draw near to him.

"What are you doing? And where's your group? You're supposed to be patrolling the area for those freaks," one of the Erasers barked at him.

Gar studied the Eraser that had spoken. The Eraser annoyed him for multiple reasons. One was his overly loud voice. Loud noises in general irritated him. Another was the fact that he had already transformed. Gar inwardly snorted. This one was obviously a rookie and the rookie was most likely nervous.

The corners of Gar's mouth twitched in amusement; he could definitely have some fun with this.

Done with his observation, Gar suddenly lashed out, punching the rookie square in the jaw. The Eraser hit the ground and immediately began to spit curses at Gar.

The downed Eraser made a move to stand, but Gar planted a foot on his chest, forcing him back down.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Gar snarled down at the rookie.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gar saw the second Eraser tense, but then take a step back, obviously reluctant to take part of this fight.

"All other Erasers are supposed to be patrolling," the rookie repeated. "Our superiors said so."

"Funny," Gar growled. "Last time I checked, _I_ was your superior."

The rookie froze as he finally took time to study Gar's face.

"G-Gar?" he sputtered, all his previous confidence gone.

Gar stepped off the rookie.

"I heard something on the west side of the School," Gar informed them. "I suggest you two check it out before this idiot shoves his foot further down his throat."

The rookie hastily got to his feet and began spouting apologies as his friend dragged him away.

Gar waited until the two could no longer be heard before a small smirk crept onto his face. Being at the School for six years definitely had some advantages

"Quit playing around with your friends and get a move on," a voice hissed to his left.

Gar turned sharply towards the sound, but the bird-girl was no where to be seen. After a moment's hesitation, Gar gave a slight shrug. The girl had been running from the School for over a year now; she was bound to have picked up on some stealth skills.

Setting a scowl on his face, Gar approached the gate again and this time no one challenged his presence. The gate immediately opened for him and he turned a sharp left to where the control center was located.

"Hey, Old Gar!" a voice greeted when he entered the small shack-like building.

"Evenin', Packer," Gar returned.

The other Eraser let out a heavy belch and raised a bottle towards Gar in welcome.

Gar looked around and noted the disgusting mess left by a crowd of Erasers who had apparently vacated the area recently.

"Where's everyone else?" Gar asked.

"Out patrolling," Packer burped. "They got bored. It's been two days of absolutely nothing. Here grab a bottle and take a swig with me!"

Gar stared distastefully at the many beer bottles scattered around the room.

"No thanks," Gar muttered. "You know I don't drink."

"Come on," Packer slurred, throwing his arms up so that the alcohol in his bottle splattered the front of his shirt. "Lighten up! You don't see this many beers in the School ever! Chase went through all the trouble to smuggle them into here. Plus you only got a few hours left. Give yourself some slack."

Packer turned away to stare at the various monitors.

"Yeah, just a few hours left," Gar repeated.

He went up to stand behind Packer.

With a brief flash of concentration, Gar felt his right arm transform. Coarse fur covered the length of his arm and deadly claws elongated at each fingertip.

Gar brought up his hand to strike.

"Yep! Might as well live it up!" Packer rambled.

Gar lashed out his hand, claws aimed for Packer's neck. Another hand flashed and Gar found another thick Eraser paw blocking his claws from his target.

Packer met Gar's eyes as his body finished his own transformation into a werewolf monster.

"I may be drunk most of the time," Packer said lowly. "But I ain't stupid. You've been nervous these past couple days. Being your best bud, I should know." Packer's eyes flickered to where his hand held Gar's claws inches away from his own throat. "Then again, I guess I don't know you as well as I thought I did. I never would have believed you would attack me—of all people—just for your stupid idea."

Gar ripped his hand out of Packer's grasp and backed up a couple of steps.

"Stupid?" Gar asked. "This place is what's stupid. Look at what they did to us!" As if to emphasize his point, Gar allowed the rest of his transformation to sweep over his body. In his mind, Gar could see the cruel fangs, the grotesque wolf face, the unnatural shape of his body…

"They gave us power, Gar. That's what they did to us! You should be grateful," Packer snarled.

Gar let out a choked laugh. "Grateful? I hate them! I hate what they did to me. They took everything away from me!"

At the last howled word, Gar charged the other Eraser. Packer readied himself, but Gar had at least one year more experience and a clear mind as advantages. Gar jabbed a paw at the other's head and Packer easily ducked, but the other Eraser failed to notice the second paw coming from underneath.

Packer let out a grunt when the fist connected with his stomach. As soon as the sound reached Gar's ears, his foot came up in a powerful round-house kick and Packer went flying to the opposite wall.

Wasting no time, Gar sprinted over to the controls and grabbed the desired lever.

The gate responded without hesitation and began to open with a groan.

Satisfied that the gate was opening, Gar began to kick the lever repeatedly until the upper half snapped off, effectively rendering the control useless.

"It's an open house," Gar muttered under his breath.

"What are you doing?" a voice snarled behind him.

Gar turned to face Packer again.

"I think my actions are fairly obvious," Gar stated.

Packer's eyes narrowed as he stood shakily. "Who have you allied yourself with? Who did you let in?"

Gar remained silent as he stared stonily at his ex-friend.

"Well whoever they are, they're going to have to go through us first." Packer held up an object that had been previously hidden inside his coat pocket.

Gar stared in confusion at the remote-like object before realization hit him. The Eraser leapt forward with a snarl, but it was too late.

A blaring alarm screamed throughout the School, making both Erasers wince at the sound, but neither broke off their glares.

Gar charged again, but this time, Packer was able to dodge quickly to the side.

Gar pivoted, hoping to cut off Packer, but instead, was met with a fist in the face.

The Eraser fell back in a daze, shaking his head to try to clear his vision.

"Your little bout of rebellion ends now," Packer's voice came somewhere to his left.

Gar lashed out towards the voice, but his claws swiped through empty air.

"Well, you are going to die today anyways," Packer's voice taunted him from behind. "Why not bring that time a little sooner than later."

"Sure he's going to die," a new voice interjected. "But not by your hands."

Through his blurred vision, Gar's eyes suddenly saw a flash of bright light.

Packer howled as the light collided into his body and he collapsed into a smoking heap.

Gar stumbled over to the other Eraser's body and was glad when his hand came upon a plastic device. Gar pushed the button and sighed in relief when the alarms ceased their blaring.

"That's not going to help anything, you know," Raven said, coming up beside him.

"Yeah," Gar agreed. "But the noise was hurting my sensitive ears."

"Aww, poor Eraser," Raven mocked.

Gar merely shrugged.

"Come on," Raven announced. "That alarm was bound to have called someone."

The girl headed towards the door and realized the Eraser was not beside her.

"Don't worry," Raven called over to where Gar was staring down at Packer's body. "There wasn't enough juice in that blow to kill your friend."

Raven walked out the door, leaving Gar alone.

"He wasn't my friend," Gar muttered and then followed after Raven.

**Percy's POV**

_Percy pushed his matted hair out of his eyes to check his surroundings. Demigods definitely had the upper hand in this battle. The steel weapons had been a nasty surprise for the Erasers and Clarisse's reinforcements had arrived just in time before anything could have gone horribly wrong. _

_Percy turned to share his excitement with Annabeth only to find the blonde demigod no where to be seen. Turning quickly, Percy looked for his friend and caught sight of something that made his breath hitch in his throat._

"_No! Annabeth!" _

**xXx**

Annabeth was too close.

Percy yelled a warning, but his words were lost in the roar of the fight.

The bird-kid growled and kicked back the Eraser.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled again, but the girl was still to far away hear his cry. Instead, she took one step backwards as she fought her Eraser, bringing her dangerously close to the edge to the cliff.

Percy clenched his teeth. She was too close. She was going to fall over. Just like…

The Eraser that Percy had kicked snarled, drawing the demigod's attention away from the other demigod for a moment.

"You're in my way," Percy said.

The Eraser growled again and charged.

Percy side-stepped and the tip of his sword easily sliced through the Eraser's unprotected belly. The creature gave out a gurgling cry before collapsing on the sand.

Percy looked back and his breath caught in his throat when he saw that Annabeth had drawn closer to edge once more. It was just like…

Paying no attention to the other Erasers, Percy ran towards Annabeth.

She took another step back, and pain exploded behind Percy's eyes, but he ignored it and sprinted towards Annabeth.

Her Eraser raised a heavy paw to smash down on the demigod in front of him, but he didn't get a chance when a tip of a sword suddenly appeared in the center of his chest.

The Eraser cast one hateful glare at the hand that held the sword and then at the demigod's face.

"Get away from her," Percy said in a dangerously low voice.

He jerked back the sword, and the Eraser collapsed in heap. He was dead before he hit the floor.

"What the heck was that?" Annabeth screamed at the bird-kid so that she could be heard over the noise.

Percy blinked in confusion. "You were in trouble. I needed to—"

"I can fight my own battles!" Annabeth snapped, waving her dagger at the now dead Eraser.

Percy felt anger flare up. "You were about to fall over the edge," he countered, pointing his sword at the edge of the cliff only a few steps behind them.

Annabeth looked back, and Percy guessed by the way her eyes widened, she hadn't noticed how close she had been getting to the cliff. The demigod quickly got over her shock and then returned to berating the boy in front of her. She didn't care if he had saved her from a fall or not.

"I would have been fine," she said.

Percy was getting frustrated. Why couldn't she understand? It was just like…

A headache was forming in the back of his mind, but Percy pushed it away. This wasn't the time to have a headache, not in the middle of a battle, and especially not when Annabeth had almost fallen.

Trying to make her understand, Percy grabbed her shoulder with his free hand.

"You almost fell," Percy repeated. Vaguely, he thought it was extremely stupid that they were arguing in the middle of a battle, but he _had _to make her understand. It was just like… The headache came again, but Percy continued talking anyways. "You were going to fall over the edge, no, you _did _fall over the edge. You and that manticore. Right over the edge into the ocean."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Annabeth yelled back at him.

His words finally caught up to him, and the bird-kid furrowed his brow in confusion. What had he been talking about? Manticore? He didn't even know what that was. And they were in the middle of a desert. They were no where close the ocean. So why…?

It was just like…

Percy released Annabeth's shoulder and raised his free hand to his head. What had he been talking about?

"Wait," Annabeth muttered next to him, so he could barely hear her voice. "Manticore. Cliff. The ocean. I fell over the cliff almost three or four years ago when we first met Nico." (1)

Percy had no idea what she was talking about, but the words "three or four years ago" made his ears perk up.

Both of the demigods shared wide-eyes stares.

"Percy," Annabeth said. "Are you—your memo—"

A snarl right next to them brought both of them back to the battle currently taking place.

"Hello, kiddies," the Eraser growled.

Annabeth raised her dagger. "We are so having a conversation after this," she said, her eyes regaining that steely glint.

Percy raised his sword and nodded. "Just don't fall over the cliff," he returned.

And they charged.

Percy didn't let Annabeth out of his sight, and Annabeth didn't complain or try to draw away, so they stayed like that—back-to-back—facing the enemy as they came.

Not wanting Annabeth or anyone else to risk the danger of the cliff, Percy shouted, "Push forward!"

His words could only reach a few demigods around him, but they nodded and repeated his command. Together the demigods began to push the Erasers back and the tide began to turn into their favor.

Percy let a small smile flicker across his face. The Erasers were loosing ground as their numbers depleted under the fierce attacks of the demigods. Percy was sure the battle was theirs until the ground began to tremble beneath his feet. The bird-kid paled as he realized that only a huge army could make the ground shake like that. Percy shot a frantic look at Annabeth, but was met with a cold, determined gaze. Percy's grip tightened around his sword and together they turned to face the enemy. The trembling of the ground was now very noticeable and everyone swung around to welcome the new enemy with their blades, but to their surprise, their eyes were met with a black wall of fur.

A hellhound's howl ripped through the other noises of the battle.

"Nico!" Percy yelled.

The demigod astride the hellhound nodded down at his friend, but didn't answer.

"Go get them, Mrs. O'Leary!" the son of Hades commanded.

The hellhound bared her teeth and charged at the closest Eraser.

"Now, Grover!" Nico shouted over the sound of Mrs. O'Leary's furious barking.

Percy couldn't see the satyr, but that didn't matter when a sudden, horrible noise filled the air. There was no real way to describe it except terrifying. Somehow Percy knew the noise wasn't directed at him or any of the demigods, but Percy still had to clap his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to ward off the sound.

Around him, Percy saw several demigods follow his example. None of them looked surprised, just slightly pained as the noise penetrated their skulls.

The noise was horrible for the demigods, but it must have been a thousand times worse for the Erasers. The sensitive ears of the Erasers amplified the sound in their head, and many immediately crumpled to the ground. Some tried desperately to block out the sound, but it didn't seem to work as they writhed painfully on the ground. Only a few Erasers who had been on the fringe of the fight managed to stumble away, howling their agony.

After what seemed like an eternity, the noise stopped.

"What was that?" Percy panted to Annabeth who was kneeling next to him.

"That," Annabeth gasped, "was Grover's panic. Scary, huh?"

"I am definitely not inviting him to the next karaoke night," the bird-kid joked weakly.

Percy and Annabeth got up slowly and looked around at the aftermath. All around, demigods were slowly picking themselves off the floor, and Percy desperately hoped that everyone was okay. Going off of his previous experiences with the School, Percy guessed that Erasers were under orders to bring the demigods back alive for experimenting, so the demigod assumed that no one had been killed… at least, that's what he hoped.

Percy's silent musing was cut short by a happy bark, and the next thing he knew, Mrs. O'Leary was jumping around him joyfully while giving him loving licks.

"Hey, Mrs. O'Leary. Good to see you too," Percy said, petting her sides. He wondered how Mrs. O'Leary was so energetic after Grover's panic, but then he noticed thick gobs of wax or something in her ears, so she was absolutely fine.

Percy looked up hopefully.

"Kai?" he asked, but only one pair of eyes looked down at Percy.

"Sorry, Percy," Nico answered from the hellhounds back. "I just found Mrs. O'Leary. I think Kai's on her way to the School alone, if she isn't there already."

Percy sighed. Kai really was reckless at times.

"Are you and Grover are okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Grover is probably a little worn out from the panic thing though," Nico answered.

"Can you check on him?" Percy said. "And then make sure everyone is ready to move soon. Kai's going to be in a heap of trouble, so we need to get to the School fast."

Nico nodded and then turned Mrs. O'Leary back.

Percy looked around to see if anybody needed help, but all the demigods seemed okay, if a little dazed. A few were lying limply, but he could tell by the way Will wasn't frantically giving out orders to his siblings that they were only knocked out and not dead. All the rest of the demigods were gathering their things and tying up the Erasers that weren't dead.

Looking back, Percy saw Annabeth kneeling over the Eraser that she had been fighting before Grover had released that awful noise.

"Just tie him up. We'll come back for them later," he told her.

Annabeth shook her head and looked up at him.

"I don't think I have to," the girl informed him. "Grover's panic must have gotten a lot stronger because I never knew that it could kill someone."

Percy kneeled next to Annabeth and immediately saw that the Eraser was indeed dead.

"Let me check something," Percy said, a suspicion growing in the back of his mind.

The demigod flipped the Eraser over on its side and began feeling along his neck.

Finding what he was looking for, Percy grunted and parted the fur to reveal a bald spot. Underneath the mass of fur was what looked like a barcode and a couple of numbers tattooed there.

"Who would want a tattoo like that," Annabeth said in distaste. "Anyways, the ink's bad for you. It gets into your bloodstreams and—"

"It's not a tattoo," Percy interrupted her. He had never seen it before, but Kai described the thing to him so that he would instantly recognize them. "It's an expiration date."

Annabeth sent him a questioning glance, so he elaborated.

"Between the gene-splicing, experiments, and rough treatments on their bodies, Erasers are genetically unstable. They only last four to seven years, so they get what's called an 'expiration date' when they just… stop existing."

Annabeth nodded slowly as she took in the information, and then when another thought occurred to her, she looked panicked for a second. "Percy, you and Kai don't have a—"

Percy interrupted her before she could freak out any further. "Don't worry. Kai and I don't have barcodes on our necks. And Kai's already outlived the majority of the Erasers with her six years. I'm pretty sure avian-hybrids don't get expiration dates."

"You'd better not," Annabeth muttered. "Or else I'm going to burn that School to the ground."

Percy ignored the dark comment and continued talking. "This might actually work to our favor."

"Really? How?" Annabeth asked, still slightly disconcerted over the idea of the barcode tattoos.

"The School develops the Erasers in large numbers. They're easy to make. They just don't last very long. It's sort of like mass production," Percy said.

Annabeth seemed to pick up on what he was implying. "If this Eraser has an expiration date for today, there's a good chance a lot of other Erasers are going to… stop existing today too."

Percy nodded.

Annabeth looked back down at the Eraser. "It's kind of sad," Annabeth murmured. "If they weren't so disgusting and mean, I might actually feel sorry for them."

Percy nodded again. The bird-kid hated the Erasers, but they were merely pawns. The real enemy was the School itself and a specific scientist by the name of Matthews.

"Percy." Annabeth's voice brought him back from his brooding. "On the cliff… Were you remembering…?"

Percy was silent for a moment. Now that he had time to think, he could properly assess what exactly had happened to him on that cliff.

Looking inward, Percy growled when he saw the mental wall standing in his way like always, but that growl waned as he noticed something. Small cracks littered its surface. Percy blinked, wondering if he was imagining it. No, the cracks were definitely there, and Percy was sure that some of them were growing little by little.

Hesitantly, Percy approached the wall. Raising his hand, Percy only paused for one second before laying his palm upon its surface.

The pain came as expected, but it wasn't the searing, unbearable pain like before. It was a dull throb like an old bruise just beginning to heal. Percy forced his hand to stay on the wall for a while longer. It felt warm like whatever was on the other side was calling out to him.

"Percy?"

The boy snapped out of his daydream and saw Annabeth looking at him expectantly, almost excitedly.

"I think—"

Percy was cut short when Nico came bounding up on Mrs. O'Leary's back.

"Hey guys," he greeted. "Everyone's ready. All the Erasers are tied up, so we should move."

Annabeth looked ready to pummel Nico at the moment, but Percy's next words stopped any violent action on the innocent demigod.

"I still owe you that conversation," Percy promised.

Annabeth looked back at him and smiled. "Fine. Just don't die or else I'll chase you down to the underworld and make you finish this conversation."

Annabeth stood up and began to walk away.

"You coming, Seaweed Brain?" she called over her shoulder. "Let's go before Kai does anything stupid."

"It's kind of too late for that," Percy muttered under his breath, but he got up without any other comment and followed after his friend.

**Finally! Percy is starting to remember! I know that the fact that he doesn't remember everything at once is somewhat disappointing, but I wanted it to be a more gradual thing. At least he's on the path to remembering now **

**I forgot to do this in the last chapter, but I wanted to give out a special thanks to Roxas's Axel because he/she partially inspired the character of Gar. Roxas's Axel had asked why the Erasers were so easily controlled by the School when they had the power and the means to do something else with their short life. I figured that I could answer that question with the creation of Gar. I think that he is a fun character (even though he's going to die soon). So thanks to Roxas's Axel. **

**1) The scene that Percy is remembering is from **_**The Titan's Curse**_**. He, Annabeth, and Thalia fought a manticore by the name of Mr. Thorn (I think) and during that fight, the manticore had fallen over the edge taking Annabeth with him. Percy had been pretty devastated by that, so I think it's traumatic enough to trigger his memories. **

**~Bluesky21543**


	32. Chapter 32: Last Name

**Sorry that I keep posting a week later than usual. Since this is getting closer to the end, I want to get it right. I had this chapter done last Sunday, but when I read it over, I hated it XP …so I re-did a whole bunch of it. Anyways, if I disappear for a couple weeks, I'm on vacation. I'll try to write when I'm gone, but I probably won't have any internet to upload. We'll see…**

**Btw a bunch of people asked me why Nico never summons skeleton warriors in the fights. Originally I answered that he couldn't. Well, it was bugging me for a while, so I checked it out on Wikipedia and it turns out he can. Apparently, he and Hades summoned an undead army of skeletons in **_**The Last Olympian **_**(yeah… somebody needs to reread the series…). Anyways, for all of you still wondering why Nico does not summon skeleton warriors, the reason is that I would assume it would tire him out and that skeleton warriors are probably more effective against monster, not Erasers. Also, it would make a pretty lame story if all their problems were solved by skeleton warriors. **

**Answers to reviews: **

**Undy Pundy: **Jeez! You want more death? Hahaha well it does keep it interesting… P.S. What do we talk about here? Random stuff. But when you really think about it, it all comes down to nothing… that what makes it so fun! P.P.S. Yep, the P.S. are the normal bulk of your conversation… P.P.P.S. really short P.S. this time so I just felt like adding one more for kicks

**Anonymous: **Thank you for your comment Why was I a week late? Well, I can give you several reasons, but it all boils down to I HAVE A LIFE! So that's it in a nutshell, but if you want to know the specifics, then by all means keep reading - So I had summer school for the past month or so and I had two projects due on the same day. I had the chapter done in time, but because of the projects, I didn't have time to proofread them. I didn't want to give you guys a crappy chapter especially since this one was so important, so I decided to wait a week so I can edit and stuff…. And that, my dear reviewer, is why I was one week late… tada!

**WyomingCH: **Hey cool! I wasn't sure if anybody really connected by fanfic and dA account. Yay for modern technology! Thank you for your comment and here is the next chapter so don't start having any withdrawals or heart attacks or something.

**Guest: **Yeah, I seriously considered putting the flock in this fanfic, but the problem is that I have not read the Maximum Ride books in a couple years now, so I don't remember the flock characters all that well. One of my pet peeves is authors who make canon characters OCC (unless its some sort of AU or something) and I really didn't want to become one of my own pet peeves. That is why I created my OC in order to fill in the space the flock would be in. I'm guessing that Maximum Ride is one of your favorite characters, so sorry for not including her, but I really didn't want to butcher her in my writing. Thank you for the comment.

**DaughterofApollo0711: **Thank you for staying with me since the beginning :D I'm glad you like it so much!

**Oddy: **Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad that I have so many fans P.S. Don't worry. I have no intention of letting "Noah" discouraging me, especially since I'm so close to the finale (I've seen people do that where they stop stories because of bad reviews, which is really sad since there are some really good, unfinished stories out there). Thanks again!

**Thanks to 1Dluva4347, book freakz, Mythomagic, angelfabeth, and daughterofthehunt. **

**Chapter 32 – The Last Name Written with the Last Breath**

Kai was only seventeen-years-old.

In her opinion, a seventeen-year-old should not spend her free time constantly getting into fights. They weren't even the normal kind of fights that a seventeen-year-old might get into. They were not gang related or with a neighborhood bully. Nope. Kai's fights consisted of claws, teeth, and constant life and death situations courtesy of your run-of-the-mill Eraser.

Apparently, fate—or rather _fates_—did not share the same views as herself. Kai was convinced that they were just dying to end her life short—to cut that fragile, little string with their fancy scissors.

"How are you holding up?" Gar's voice suddenly appeared next to her, making her jump slightly.

The distraction had cost her a scratch on the arm that stung briefly before all feelings disappeared in a red haze.

Moments later an Eraser's face met the floor, compliments of Kai's fist.

"Oh, just fine," Kai snarled sarcastically, a little miffed that she had allowed herself to be distracted by the Eraser. "Besides the life blood flowing out of me, the Erasers howling for my head, and the mounting feeling of claustrophobia, I feel absolutely great."

"As long as you're still breathing," Gar replied, a little too optimistically.

Kai felt a movement behind her, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gar stumble under the weight of an oncoming Eraser screaming, "Traitor! Traitor!"

Kai twisted quickly, sending a blast of electricity towards the Eraser attacking Gar.

"Thanks," Gar mumbled, catching his breath. "How long can you keep this up?"

"All day," Kai lied through clenched teeth. "Try to keep up."

"There's no way we're going to get inside, let alone reach the door. Not at this rate anyways," Gar informed her.

Kai smashed another Eraser face, putting all her hatred into that blow as well as trying to chase away her own fears with its ferocity.

"Tell me something I don't know," Kai spat back.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid, _the logical part of her brain berated her—mocked her.

Angry with the Erasers, the School, and, most importantly, herself, Kai let out a hate-filled cry as electricity sparked to life in her hand.

_They've got Mikey! _Ellie's voice screeched in her ears.

_By the end of the week, the kids will be traumatized by the whole experience, turned into freaks, or dead, _her own voice warned.

_Get my son Paul out of that School and we'll call it even, _Apollo told her.

Kai _had_ to get into that School, but as the battle waged on, it didn't seem like the Erasers were going to roll over and die any time soon.

Kai allowed the electricity to build in her hand until she unleashed it in a wall of pure energy. Her adversaries were pushed back a couples steps and a few unfortunate ones that had been too close to the bird-girl were knocked out cold.

"Raven! Look out!"

Kai whipped around, but she was too late to react as a pair of rough paws grabbed at her neck.

"Birdy came home!" the Eraser currently strangling her shouted gleefully. His eyes lit up as if his best friend had come over for a play date.

Kai clawed desperately at her neck as it became harder and harder to breathe. Electricity fizzled weakly and wings went limp as life-giving oxygen stopped flowing to her head.

Vaguely, Kai thought she heard Gar's voice, but it sounded so distant and faint.

Spots flickered in front of her vision and even her thoughts became fuzzy until the only thing Kai was conscious of was the iron grip around her neck and the loud, booming voice of her tormentor.

"Birdy die now!" the Eraser announced as if telling her that she had just won the lottery. "I kill you!"

The pressure steadily increased and Kai's arms fell lifelessly to her side as her eyes rolled back into her head and then…

Kai gasped in surprise when she felt an unexpected jerk and her body hit something hard.

Kai laid there stunned for a moment before she finally realized that the hard thing that she had hit was the ground and that oxygen was now readily available for her lungs since no hands were currently squeezing the life out of her. She began to greedily suck in gulps of the sweetest air she'd ever tasted in her life.

"What would you do without me, eel-girl?"

Kai looked up to meet stormy gray eyes that held both amusement and exasperation.

Somehow Kai wasn't surprised.

"Didn't I ditch you like in New York somewhere?" Kai rasped weakly after a few more wonderful breaths of air.

"You're predictable," the daughter of Athena stated matter-of-factually. "Just like Percy."

"Speaking of the idiot, where is he?" Kai asked, finally finding strength to stand.

Annabeth gave a very un-ladylike snort. "Like you're one to be calling people 'idiots.' As for Percy, he should be a couple steps behind me. We were sent ahead to open the gate." Annabeth paused as her eyes flickered to where demigods were streaming through the School's entrance. "But it looks like you took care of that for us. At least you did something right."

Kai shook her head ruefully. "Couldn't even do that. You have Gar to thank for opening the doors." The bird-girl waved a dismissive hand at the lone Eraser fighting side-by-side with demigods.

The daughter of Athena gave the other girl a disbelieving look. "You make the weirdest friends."

"Friends like you?" Kai quipped back.

"Just keep him close to you. We don't want to accidently attack him in this chaos. They all look the same," Annabeth said, preparing to leave in order to help one of her siblings.

"Hey, Annabeth," Kai's voice stopped the demigod in her tracks. Kai licked her lips self-consciously. "Um, thanks. I'd probably be dead if you hadn't…"

The demigod let a small smile cross her lips. "Yeah, you probably would be," she agreed, waving her silver dagger that was still coated in Eraser blood, but then she paused, her eyes flickering towards the school. "But the demigods in there might have been dead by the time we would have come, so let's just call it even."

Kai's eyes followed Annabeth's towards the foreboding building. "They're not out yet," Kai warned.

"They will be," Annabeth said confidently. "We didn't chase your pathetic butt all the way from Camp Half-Blood just to be beaten."

Annabeth gave one final nod before disappearing into the mass of bodies.

Taking to the air, Kai easily found the renegade Eraser and landed beside him.

"Stick close to me, kid," Kai told him. "Reinforcements have arrived and your face doesn't exactly say 'love me.'"

"My face doesn't even say '_like _me,'" Gar scoffed and then looked around at the demigods that had joined the fight. "Now these guys are smart. They brought weapons and friends. I'm also willing to bet my last few minutes of existence that there are even more reinforcements coming." He paused, casting a mischievous glance at the bird-girl. "You should take notes, Raven."

Kai managed to send the Eraser an annoyed glare in between the fighting. "Watch it, Eraser," she growled.

Gar smirked and opened his mouth to give another remark, but anything he might have said was instantly drowned out by a fearsome howl. A look of dread and panic crossed the Eraser's face, and as he turned to face the direction of the howl, he gasped, "What is that?"

Kai followed his gaze back to the entrance of the School.

For the first time that day, a smile spread across her face as she took in the sight of a figure sitting astride a hellhound.

"Percy," she murmured.

**xXx**

Kai still had that silly grin as Mrs. O'Leary bulldozed her way through the sea of Erasers and stopped right next to her. The bird-girl allowed a loving lick from the hellhound before she stepped back in order to clearly see the dog's rider.

"Glad you could make it," Kai said.

"I would tell you that you're stupid, but you'll probably get an earful from Annabeth later," Percy replied with an equally ridiculous grin as well as a relieved look on his face.

Kai let the smile drop back into a frown as she studied her friend. It had only been two days, but something seemed different about Percy…

A shout distracted Kai from her observations and both bird-kids turned to see Gar backing away from a demigod, clutching a paw to his chest and breathing heavily.

"Hey!" Kai yelled, using her wings to propel herself forward so that she appeared between the Eraser and the demigod before further damage could be done. The demigod took a surprised step backwards, and Kai couldn't hold back a snarl as light revealed the demigod's face. "Drew."

"You're protecting him?" the girl sneered. The light behind her lit up her hair as if creating a halo, her face still looked pretty even with that nasty expression on it, and the short sword in her hand gleamed threateningly.

Suddenly, Kai saw danger in beauty.

"He's an ally," Kai replied, quickly recovering from her initial shock.

Kai knew that Drew didn't really like her (it was quite obvious from the spiteful glare she was currently sending her), but she wouldn't attack her… would she?

Kai let some of her electricity flare in hopes that it would make Drew back off. As energy flowed through her body, Kai felt her senses twitched as they felt something was slightly off. Kai narrowed her eyes as she tried to pinpoint whatever was making her feel slightly off balance, but it was gone as soon as she tried to locate its source.

"Drew! They need help over there," Percy appeared beside the two girls and his finger directed the other demigod to another battle.

The daughter of love left without another word and Kai relaxed slightly.

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but Kai cut him off, "Don't. I won't try to make friends with a snake like that. Annabeth was one thing, but as far as I am concerned, Drew is a completely different species."

Percy pursed his lips together before saying, "You should probably look after your… ally."

Kai's attention was once again brought back to Gar who was still clutching at his heart. "Cover me," she ordered.

With a nod, Percy began to turn Mrs. O'Leary away, but then hesitated. "Meet me at the School's door as soon as you're done. You're going to be the one to take the first step into the School," he told her.

The corner of Kai's mouth only twitched slightly, but the small movement didn't go unnoticed by the demigod. He nodded once again, acknowledging her silent thanks.

"Eraser," Kai called out once Percy left. She turned and found him in the same position. "Where did she cut you?"

Kai ran up beside Gar and struggled to get him to let go of chest so she could see the wound.

"Sh-She," Gar gasped.

"Let me see," Kai insisted.

"She didn't touch me," Gar finally stuttered. He took his furry hand away from his chest to reveal the untouched shirt and body underneath.

Kai's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Then why—"

"I—it's nothing," Gar said, brushing her off.

The Eraser tore himself away from the bird-girl's hold and stumbled towards the fight.

Kai scowled at the uncooperative Eraser, but ran to catch up. "Stay close to me," she ordered. "We're going into the School."

Gar didn't respond, but simply cut down whatever Eraser that came at him with new ferocity.

Kai fought beside him, keeping him within sight. For the third time that night, Kai felt that there was something slightly off.

Gar let out another growl, challenging the Erasers to come at him. Kai almost disregarded the sound, except this cry had sounded different.

Eyes widening with realization, Kai whipped around to see Gar swat aside another Eraser as one more jumped in to take its place.

"You fool," Kai muttered.

Gar swung at the other Eraser, but now that Kai was watching, she could definitely tell it was slower and weaker than his other hits. Obviously, his opponent sensed it too as it easily dodged the blow. His own paw came up, claws ready to tear at the other's body, but the Eraser suddenly found two fingers brushing the spot where his heart was.

Kai looked up at the confused Eraser as he was probably wondering how she had appeared so swiftly.

Realizing his danger, the Eraser tried to get away, but it was too late as the electricity traveled rapidly down the girl's arm, to her fingertips, and straight through his body.

"I… had him," Gar panted as his former opponent crumpled to the ground.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kai asked in a dangerously low voice, her eyes shadowed by the night's darkness. Without waiting for an answer, she began dragging the Eraser a little ways away from the battle.

"I wanted to die fighting," Gar nearly howled.

Kai looked up at the Eraser's face. She recognized the look in his eyes. It wasn't bravery. He was on the brink of madness.

The fight. The smell of blood. The seconds ticking away.

His mind was clouded.

"It's nearly time, isn't it?" Kai asked, her voice softening slightly.

The blood-thirsty gaze wavered as uncertainty flashed across his face.

Gar turned back to the fight like he was going to either spring into the thick of it or bolt off running in the other direction. Kai couldn't tell which.

The Eraser turned back to her and she saw that the mad look in his eyes had completely cleared.

"I had wished to see the end of this School," Gar said with a bitter laugh. "I guess that fate has something else planned for me. I can't—"

The Eraser stumbled towards her, and Kai let out a surprised yelp when he had suddenly collapsed on her. The bird-girl struggled under his heavy weight and slowly lowered herself and the Eraser to the ground.

Kai turned the Eraser over so that his head was resting on her lap and she realized that he had returned to his human form.

"I didn't want to die a monster," Gar explained when he noticed her scrutinizing stare.

Kai let out a scoff despite the lump growing in her throat. "Your exterior hardly defines who you are. Take Drew for example. Her pretty, little face barely contains that forked tongue of hers."

"Thank you, Raven," Gar said, interrupting any rant that might have followed.

Kai bit her lip, forcing herself to swallow any unnecessary words. The Eraser had minutes, maybe even seconds, left. He didn't need to hear crap coming out of her mouth in his last moments.

"It's Kailani," she announced, just loud enough for him to hear.

Gar chuckled. "Kailani. Unexpected. Bright. Obviously your given name. Yeah, I'd say that fits you…"

Kai scowled at him, but it only served to make him laugh a bit harder.

"Nice… to finally… make your official acquaintance, Kailani," he said between labored breaths.

Unsure about what to say, Kai reached over and grabbed the boy's limp hand. His skin was cold and clammy, making Kai want to draw her hand back, but a slight squeeze made her stop.

"You should feel honored, Era—Gar," Kai hastily corrected herself. "I rarely ever submit myself to human contact."

"And you said my name. I'm the luckiest boy in the world," he joked weakly.

Kai watched as his eyes flickered. He barely had the strength to keep them open, but he refused to close them and instead kept his dark eyes trained on his face.

Kai bit her lip, hating the look he was giving her. She had seen so many kids pass through the School and she had always despised _that _look—the expression they all took when they realized they were dying.

"The School will burn for what they did," Kai promised.

Gar shook his head feebly. "'Never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, 'I will take revenge, I will pay them back,' says the Lord,'" he recited, reminding her of their first meeting. (1)

"Why the heck do you keep quoting scripture at the weirdest times?" Kai muttered.

Gar chuckled again, although it sounded hoarse and extremely weak.

"You know many names, don't you Kailani?" Gar asked, ignoring her question. He didn't wait to hear her confirmation. "You've made a list of faces from this School that you've seen come and go. Don't add to the list. The School will get what's coming to them in time, but not by your hands. Just remember the ones you have met at this School and take your revenge in _living_. The School wanted you dead, so each breath you take is another blow towards them. Promise me that you'll live and remember."

Kai just stared mutely at Gar's face as the light died in his eyes; the lump in her throat had grown too large so that she could no longer trust her voice.

"Promise," Gar whispered.

Still unable to say anything, Kai just squeezed his hand harder as she watched his flickering eyes and shuddering chest finally cease there movements.

The bird-girl stared dully at the lifeless eyes for a moment before leaning over and closing them for the last time.

Finally regaining her voice, Kai muttered, "How can I forget you? You're the strangest Eraser I've ever met, Gar."

**xXx**

Peals of laughter suddenly broke Kai's respectfully silence. Startled and angered by the sound, the bird-girl jumped to her feet, spreading her wings threateningly, but the display only served to make the laughter escalate until it sounded downright mad.

The girl opposite to Kai let out a few more giggles before quieting to allow a victorious smirk cross her face. "The Eraser got what he deserved," the girl said coolly.

Kai narrowed her eyes, trying desperately to control her own body. Every alarm in her mind was going off, telling her to scream out her rage, run away, and attack the girl all at the same time.

The turmoil inside of her made it hard to think as emotions she hadn't felt in ages had un-expectantly arose at the death of the Eraser—her previously sworn enemy. Now the girl in front of her was making her senses go haywire and her infuriating laughter was certainly not helping anything.

"W—who are you?" Kai managed to get out. It sounded choked and unsteady as she tried to keep her voice under control.

"Have you gone blind, sweetheart?" the girl asked with a taunting smirk. "I'm Drew of course."

Kai stared at the daughter of Aphrodite's face, all of her senses telling her that something dangerous was nearby.

_Duh, _Kai growled at her subconscious._ Of course I know the danger. I'm staring right at it. _

Kai prepared to blow past Drew—to tell her off and just go find Percy, but as she took a step forward, harsh warning bells appeared again, making her wince at the suddenness and intensity of it. Something was not right.

"No," Kai muttered, rubbing her aching skull.

"No?" the girl repeated with a laugh and then gestured at the raging battle. "You don't agree with it? The Erasers have to die—all of them."

"No," Kai said again. The bird-girl looked up to meet the other's eyes. "No. I wasn't talking about that."

The girl cocked her head to the side; that annoying smile widened. "Then what do you mean, _sweetheart_?"

"I told you to not call me that," Kai growled as her eyes flashed an angry purple-white color.

The girl looked startled for a second. The moment passed and then she opened her mouth to give a retort, but Kai interrupted her.

"But you wouldn't remember that, would you?" Kai asked, getting into a fighting stance. "Because you're not Drew."

The girl opened her mouth again, but no sound came out.

"Who are you?" Kai asked again. When the girl didn't answer, Kai snarled. "Answer me or do I have to beat it out of you?"

The girl closed her mouth so that it curled into a wicked grin that looked too cruel even for Drew's face. Her silence was abruptly broken as she let out another round of insane laughter that made Kai want to slam her hands over her ears.

The girl finished her outburst and smiled innocently. "What gave me away? Usually I'm such a good actor. Pretending to be that empty-headed idiot wasn't that hard. I was so sure I made a convincing Drew when I, uh… replaced her for a day or two," she said. The girl's voice suddenly changed, becoming deeper and sweeter than Drew's charmspeak ever was. Also her eyes changed into a strange obsidian color that made unwanted feelings arise whenever Kai looked straight at them.

"The energy around you," Kai growled. "It's way too strong for a demigod. It's just like Apollo's."

The girl's smile stretched even more so that Kai was sure that her face would break. Then, without any warning, the girl began to transform as if her guise as Drew was slowly melting off. The girl became smaller—her face younger; her hair stayed black, but grew until it reached her lower back and it seemed to move and shift as if made of smoke; her skin paled like it had never seen to light of day; a dark midnight dress covered her slim figure and scenes and pictures were interwoven in them, but when Kai tried to make them, they blurred into another picture. Overall, the girl now resembled a twelve or thirteen-year-old child, except for her unsettling eyes and that creepy little smile that didn't disappear with the rest of her transformation and spoke of the agelessness of an immortal.

Those black eyes seem to scorn Kai as if telling her to burn on the spot. Kai had no doubt that the girl _could _make her burn on the spot if she wanted to. Power rolled off her in overwhelming waves. It was different than Apollo's. His was warm and light-hearted with the impression of a controlled raging fire underneath, but hers… this girl seemed to radiate mischievous intent and malevolence that could be unleashed at any second.

The worst part of it all was that Kai recognized her.

All of this of course takes time to tell, but for Kai, it all happened in an instant, bombarding each of her senses and almost bringing her to her knees.

The girl laughed when Kai reeled and she seemed to relish in the bird-girl's pain.

"You're… you're…" Kai gasped struggling to form a complete sentence.

The girl smiled. "I'm…" she prompted.

The same black eyes and raven hair… Of course there was the age difference, but Kai had no doubt about who the girl was.

Kai closed her eyes, flashing back to the day of her escape with Percy.

_Kai noticed Percy's confusion and they both turned around to find a shock. _

_Behind the lobby's desk, someone was just lifting her finger off one of the keys to the computer. Kai did a double take before she realized it was the— (2)_

"The one who opened the door for us," Kai rasped. "You're the woman who helped us escape this place."

Fighting desperately, Kai reined in her powers so that she could gradually get used to the influx of power in her vicinity.

"Who are you?" Kai growled for the third time, standing straight again although she was still breathing heavily.

"Eris," the girl announced proudly, giving another giggle.

Kai wracked her brain to remember the little bit of mythology she had learned in school (no, not that School; a regular school with kids and teachers who aren't trying to tear you apart…).

"The goddess of… discord?" Kai asked, a sense of dread settling in the pit of her stomach.

The girl—Eris—was about to let out another bout of giggles, but a scowl from Kai cut her off and she settled for a sickly sweet smile. "You're smart," she said. "I'm often ignored, forgotten. I just fade into the background… almost like I did for your story, but you caught me before I could disappear again."

_Crap…_ Kai thought, letting out a whole string of curses that would have made a seasoned Eraser blush. _As if my life wasn't twisted enough…_

"Shouldn't you be with Ares or something?" Kai asked.

Eris waggled a finger at Kai as if reprimanding a naughty child. "Didn't they teach you anything at Camp Half-Blood? You don't say a god's name unless you want to bring his attention on you." She paused looking at the battle next to them. "At this point, I don't think you want to attract the attention of the war god."

"I asked for an answer, not a lecture," Kai growled.

"Why am I here?" Eris said. "Isn't it obvious? I'm the goddess of discord. Chaos. Disputes. Conflict. I _relish_ in it. As for Ares… well, it's all fun and games with him, but he misses the true _pleasure _of it all. He ends it all too quickly for my taste."

"Then why help us escape?" Kai spat, growing madder by the minute.

"Percy was the perfect golden apple to start another Trojan War; he was the perfect catalyst for discord," the goddess laughed. "Drop a few hints around the School and the scientists are practically sacrificing their own blood for a chance to experiment on a demigod. But the scientists like to stay holed up behind their nice clean white walls and what good is a golden apple if it's shut away? No, no. I had to get you out eventually. And then set up a 'coincidental' meeting with a former girlfriend via hellhounds—"

"And invite the Erasers into camp for a demigod party and all of a sudden two completely different worlds are linked," Kai finished, seething vehemently.

"You caught onto that did you? Yes, I let the Erasers into your camp," Eris confirmed. "It's been the most fun I've had in ages! Wars are all fun, but very straightforward and disappointing in the end. Funny little mortals think treaties solve everything. But this—"

The goddess broke off abruptly and Kai suddenly found herself unable to move as Eris sauntered towards her.

"This," the goddess whispered next to Kai's ear as a petite hand reached out and rested on the bird-girl's heaving chest. "The discord. It spreads beyond the physical realm of swords and words. Hearts all around churn with chaos. This is what I relish in."

Kai found the paralyzing grip release her body, and with an angry cry and electricity sparking, the bird-girl flew at the goddess.

Kai swiped at the girl, but found herself instead coughing in a cloud of smoke.

"Attacking a goddess, mortal? Not the wisest choice, but I do enjoy your recklessness. It's what interested me when I first laid eyes on you," Eris's voice echoed around her.

_Great, _Kai thought bitterly as she tried to locate the elusive goddess. _Both she and Mr. D find me 'interesting.' _

"Tools," Kai growled to the empty air. "The School. The gods. They use us all as tools to play your stupid little games."

"And you play your part so well," the goddess's voice purred in amusement.

Kai let out another frustrated cry, unable to release her anger.

"You can't get me. Even if you could see me, it wouldn't do you much good. Gods can't die you know… But I do know someone you can take your anger out on…" Eris continued.

Unbidden, a face flashed through the bird-girl's mind.

"Matthews," Kai snarled.

Kai spread her wings, ready to take off, but a sight stopped her.

Gar still lay on the floor, looking strangely peaceful amid the chaos. _Promise…_

"You want to see more to end up like him?" Eris asked. "You can end this."

Kai stared at the body of the strange Eraser, indecision flickering through her mind.

"This could have easily been your own brother," the voice cooed. "They're around the same age, aren't they?"

Kai's head whipped up, eyes blazing.

"No!" Kai shouted, not sure who exactly she was talking to.

Raven wings snapped open, and without any more hesitation, Kai launched herself into the chaos.

**xXx**

Eris watched in amusement as the bird-girl disappeared in the battle.

"Like throwing a golden apple into a crowd of goddesses," she giggled. (3)

As if the words were a private joke, the goddess of discord dissolved into insane laughter that the wind carried it into the night.

**So much going on! First, I'm sorry if you really liked Gar; I really enjoyed writing him because of his quirky personality, but he had to die considering his expiration date. I'm sad that he only got to live in a few chapters, but I think he left a pretty big impact. **

**Second, we finally learn the identity of the mysterious woman and the "traitor" in Camp Half-Blood… Eris is a master manipulator; she's in a major story called the **_**Iliad **_**(the Trojan War)**_**, **_**but she often gets looked over. ****I hope it was a good twist for you guys; I've been planning the revealing for months and I'm pretty satisfied of how it went. Eris is pretty sneaky, manipulating all those events and Kai's emotions. So what do you think Kai's going to do?**

**I drew another picture of Kai and Nico on my deviantart if you want to check it out.  
>bluesky21543. deviant art. c om<br>****Just remove spaces.**

**(1) A quote from the **_**Bible—**_**Romans 12:19. Gar had quoted it when first meeting Kai.  
>(2) Taken from chapter 13 when Kai and Percy escape the School.<br>(3) A little mythology 101 for those of you who don't know much about Eris. In one version, Eris is the daughter of Zeus and Hera (sister of Ares) and the goddess of discord. She is often seen hanging around Ares because of the bloodshed he causes. She began the Trojan War (if you don't know what that is, read the **_**Iliad**_**) by throwing a golden apple into a crowd of goddesses and proclaimed that it was "for the fairest." Of course Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all claimed that they were the most beautiful, and yadda yadda yadda… Trojan War and all that…\**

**~Bluesky21543**


	33. Chapter 33:  Drawing Strength

**Wow! It's been so long! I really didn't mean to be gone for over a month, but I am back with an awesome chapter that I hope you all enjoy. Thank you to all who have been waiting so patiently for this chapter. School's started, but I'm pretty sure that it won't affect my updates any more. **

**Answers to reviews:**

**Oddy: **I know… poor Gar I felt bad that I had to kill him, but that's how the game of chess works. You win some; you lose some. Eris is one twisted goddess and she's not quite done yet… Thanks again for you review.

**Daughterofthehunt: **There are soooooo many gods out there. Don't expect to know them all (unless that's your job or something). The only reason I knew of Eris is because I read a lot of Greek mythology when I was little (I'm such a nerd :P) Thanks for your review!

**Book freakz: **I glad you thought Gar was a good different. It was sad to kill him off so quickly. Thanks for the review!

**Guest: **Thank you so much for you compliments! I've only read the first three Maximum Ride books because a friend told me they kinda suck after that. I think they're just okay (I like the concept better than the story), but I will never discourage someone from reading.

**Undy Pundy: **Thank you for the pic! I think it's pretty awesome that you did some fanart for this. I've never had any one do that for one of me before, so allow me to congratulate you for being the first. P.S. You should check out some stuff on deviantart. There's a lot of cool Percy Jackson art there. P.P.S. That's right blame whoever made P.S.s for this weirdness.

**Also special thanks to angelfabeth, Louisa4533, and Plz for being awesome reviewers. **

**Chapter 33 – Drawing Strength from your Promise**

**Since it has been so long here is a short RECAP: Kai entered the School with Gar, the Eraser who is also against the School. They are almost overwhelmed until Percy arrives with the demigods and the battle turns in their favor. During the battle, Gar's expiration date finally activates and he dies asking Kai to promise not to be driven by revenge. Before Kai make that, Eris reveals herself as the manipulating goddess and sets Kai off in a rage. **

**xXx**

Storm clouds.

Yeah, that was a good way to describe it—storm clouds. Pent up emotions were ready to lash out at the first thing it came in contact. Unfortunately for a certain green-eyed demigod, he was in its direct line of fire.

"What in the world are you doing, Kai?" Percy murmured, searching for any sign of his friend in the sky and wondering if he should step aside before she decided he might make a good target for misplaced aggression.

"Percy? Are you ready?"

The demigod turned to see that Annabeth had gathered most of the others behind her. A few battles were still going on in the School's courtyard, but Percy was confident that they would be ended shortly.

"We're waiting for Kai," Percy said, still searching for signs of his friend.

"How long is she going to keep us waiting?" Annabeth asked impatiently. The daughter of Athena wasn't the only one getting restless. Nearly all the demigods were shifting uneasily as their ADHD and adrenaline rush made them eager for more battle. "The longer we wait, the more time we will give the Erasers to prepare for—"

"There she is!" Nyssa called, pointing at a dark figure in the sky.

The bird-girl landed swiftly and nodded to the assembled demigods as she came up to stand by Percy.

The demigod studied his friend in concern. It was obvious something had happened after he had left her with that Eraser, but she was carefully concealing any definite feelings. It was just a dangerous swirl of ambiguities and hatred—storm clouds.

"Are you okay?" he whispered so that only she could hear him.

Kai scowled at him. "Just open the door," she ordered.

Percy narrowed his eyes; he wasn't her bellboy. "Kai…" he said, his voice holding a warning tone.

Kai took a deep breath, casting him an apologetic look. "No," she finally murmured, looking at the door. "I'm not okay. I will be though… probably."

Percy nodded; he would have to be content with that.

"So any ideas about how we're getting in?" Clarisse abruptly interrupted. Her eyes were dark with hatred and impatience.

Everybody's attention was turned to the large door.

"I was hoping that you were going to come up with some magical demigod way to open it," Kai said. With a withering look from Annabeth, Kai added, "It can be only opened from the inside."

"I really doubt they're going to open up if we knock nicely," Percy pointed out, walking towards the door. After studying their obstacle for a moment, Percy thrust both arms out in the direction of the door, concentrating intently on the mechanics of the door, specifically the hydraulics.

Kai's eyes widened when she realized what he planned to do.

"You can't, Percy," she warned. "You tried before."

Percy didn't answer, but instead blocked everything around him as he mentally prepared himself for the pain he was about to subject himself to.

It was still fuzzy, but with his increased concentration, small memories began to leak past the wall.

Percy bit back a cry of pain as bits of scenes flashed forcefully through his mind.

A defeated god, dripping golden ichor into the surf; the waves answering his call and propelling his body through the ocean; an entire river gathering up behind him, ready to do his biding; a mountain erupting, burying his enemies behind him; his own personal hurricane, cutting down foes and bending to his will… (1)

_He_ had done all that; heck, he had made a freaking _mountain_ explode; he could definitely open a stupid door.

A small gasp cut through his concentration and Percy allowed himself to look up weakly. The pull in his gut had gotten almost unbearable and he couldn't see straight. Stepping back from the door, Percy felt himself stumble until an arm steadied him.

"You couldn't do that before," Kai commented, eyeing the now open door. Percy didn't miss the bit of awe in her voice.

"That's nothing," he said, finding strength to stand on his own again. "You should have seen what I did to St. Helens."

Kai sent him a questioning glance, but he cut her off before the torrent of questions came.

"I'll explain everything later," he promised. He gestured at the entrance. "You first?"

Kai stared at the vacant lobby just beyond the open doors. "I've been running for so long. Who would have thought that I would come back on my own free will?" She led the way into the room while muttering, "Making friends with an Eraser, fighting my way _into _the School; the universe must love irony."

Kai walked straight towards the lobby's computer, much to Percy's confusion, and began typing something into the system.

Percy walked up beside her after making sure some demigods were on look out. "What are you do—"

"Quiet," Kai interrupted. "And pray to whatever god of technology that this works."

"I'm pretty sure that god doesn't exist," Percy said.

Kai ignored him and continued typing in various, random code-looking things and eventually pressed enter.

The both looked up from the computer screen to see… absolutely nothing.

"Um, Kai?" Percy said. "Am I supposed to know what that—"

Percy stopped when a noise echoed throughout the School. A swishing noise… just like—

The door to Percy's immediate right slammed open by some invisible force.

Percy turned back to his friend. "How?"

"Gar made me memorize the codes to hack into the School's system and open the doors in case he couldn't," Kai explained. A look relief flashed across her face as she watched in satisfaction as another door slid open.

"Gar… your Eraser friend?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Kai answered.

Percy opened his mouth to inquire more about the strange Eraser, but Kai simply brushed passed him, ignoring his questioning looks.

"Matthews," Kai muttered lowly so only he could hear it.

The storm clouds were back.

Percy stared in confusion as his friend's whole demeanor changed in a matter of seconds.

For a moment, Percy thought he saw a young girl with flashing ebony eyes walking beside Kai, whispering words to the bird-girl that apparently only she could hear, but as soon as he blinked, the apparition was gone.

"Kai?" Percy called out, but the bird-girl continued walking as if she didn't hear him.

Now Percy was getting really irritated. They had come all this way together and suddenly she was pulling her bipolar act again and brushing him off like a pestering child.

"Kai," Percy called again, running to catch up with her. Behind him, the demigods were shifting restlessly, eager to get on with the final fight.

The demigod reached his friend, caught her arm, and twisted her around so she was forced to look at him.

For a moment, Percy was startled. Kai's pupils had dilated so that the black had nearly covered all of the bird-girl's purple irises. It gave her a blank, glassy-eyed look that unnerved him, but just like the phantom girl, it disappeared and the pupils shrank back to their proper size.

"What?" Kai asked, an annoyed bite in her voice.

Percy blinked rapidly, realizing that this was the third time Kai had spoken to him. Backing up, Percy studied Kai's eyes again, but minus the weird violet color, everything seemed normal about her eyes.

"Do I have something on my face?" Kai asked, exasperated by her friend's unresponsiveness.

"Have you not learned anything?" Percy asked, snapping back to reality.

Kai stared at him inquisitively, clearing not getting what he was trying to tell her.

"You were about to run off again," Percy elaborated, gesturing to the door Kai had been heading towards. "Where were you going to anyways?"

Kai's eyes darkened as her eyes flickered towards the lit corridor of white.

"Matthews," she hissed. "Matthews is down there."

Percy wanted to groan in frustration. Was she that driven by instinct and revenge?

"Kai, you're one of the strongest people I know," Percy said, picking his words carefully. "But we came here to help. Don't just keep flying off to do whatever you please."

Kai's eyes cleared for a second as reason entered her hazy mind.

"Fine," the girl relented. "You've got five minutes to situate your little troop, but no more. I'm going on ahead with or without you."

Percy smiled grimly, knowing that, that was the closest Kai was going to get to an apology.

Jogging quickly back to his fellow demigods, Percy wasted no time allotting assignments. "Grover and Will, take the Apollo and Hermes cabin down that hall. That should be where they're holding the others and possibly any animal experiments as well." Grover gave a pained look when Percy mentioned the animals, but recovered and gave his assent along with Will's. "Clarisse, divide up the Ares, Hephaestus, and Aphrodite cabins into smaller groups. Take the rest of the hallways and take out any other threats or Erasers. Make sure not to spread yourselves out too thinly."

"And us?" Annabeth asked, standing by her siblings.

"Athena and the rest are coming with Kai and me. We're going after Matthews," Percy finished, giving a nod to both Annabeth and Nico.

"I'm coming with you," Nyssa suddenly spoke up. "There's a gadget I've been wanting to try and I'm pretty sure there'll be some Erasers down the way you're heading."

Percy nodded to the daughter of Hephaestus, not at all opposed to having someone like her watching his back.

"Meet back here when you're done and don't take any unnecessary risks," Percy said, giving his dismissal.

Leading his small group of demigods to the waiting bird-girl, Percy flashed his impatient friend a sardonic smirk. "Four minutes," he announced.

Kai snorted, "How do you know? You don't have a watch."

Percy shrugged, glad that his friend was out of whatever trance she had been in before.

Kai raised an eyebrow and nodded to where the demigods were heading off to do their designated assignments.

"Since when did you become a military commander?" she asked, a bit of admiration tingeing her voice.

Percy sent his friend a quick grin. "See what you miss when you disappear?" he quipped back.

Kai shook her head is mock disbelief and turned towards her chosen corridor. "Let's go," she called over her shoulder.

The group made their way down the hallway, only pausing at the corners to ensure that no Erasers were hiding in the blind spots. Kai led the way, like she had the day of their escape, not hesitating as she chose each turn.

How she knew exactly where she was going, Percy had no idea.

An echoing sound made the group pause in their trek and the bird-kids shared a glance.

"Erasers," Kai growled.

"Not the most stealthy group, are they?" Nyssa commented from behind the bird-girl. "It's a wonder that they ever managed to sneak up on Percy when they cap—"

The girl stopped when she realized what she was saying. Percy gave her a questioning stare, but she pretended not to notice as she stepped forward.

"Let me handle them," Nyssa said calmly, fingering something that she had pulled from one of her many pockets.

"You sure?" Kai asked. "There has to at least be seven or eight of them."

"I have a new gadget just begging to be used. I'll let you play with the leftovers. That is—" Nyssa sent a mischievous smirk back towards the group—"if there is any when I'm done."

When the Erasers came around the bend, it must have been a strange sight for them. A lone girl was standing in the middle of the hall; her friends a few yards behind her with weapons drawn, but in a relaxed position. The girl had a shield slung over her back, but no visible weapons.

The weird sight was enough for the Erasers to stop dead on their tracks, cautious about traps. The one in front scrutinized the hallway suspiciously, but then decided that the hall hadn't been tampered with.

Nyssa lifted up a hand, making the Erasers growl warily, but the noise became slightly confused when they saw the strange device.

The capsule was cylindrical in shape and looked no bigger than two of her fingers put together. As far as Percy could tell, there were no special markings, and all together, it was a very unimpressive piece of work.

"You want to die first?" an Eraser snarled at her. "Fine with me."

The Eraser jumped into action, leading his brethren into a charge.

Percy was just about leap to the girl's side with sword drawn, but Nyssa calmly pulled out a little wire out of the capsule, much like one would do to detonate a grenade, and tossed it at the oncoming Erasers.

"Fire in the whole!" Nyssa yelled, a smug grin on her face.

The capsule hit the ground right in front of the Erasers and rolled lazily on the ground.

The Erasers in the front paused for a second and stared down at the contraption.

"What was that supposed to do?" one of them sneered.

Nyssa put a hand on her hip and shook a finger at the Erasers as if reprimanding a foolish child.

The next thing Percy knew, a bright light filled his vision, and he was forced to shut his eyes against its harshness. When the light had died down to a more bearable brightness, Percy looked up and saw a few stray bits of electricity dancing around the capsule and the still bodies of the Erasers. A burnt scent filled the air, and Percy could swear he saw smoke coming off the Erasers' bodies.

Next to him, Kai studied the sparking capsule with interest. "So that's what you did with my electricity," Kai said to Nyssa.

"That's _one _of the things I did with your energy," the daughter of Hephaestus corrected. "Let's get out of here so we can see what else I can make with your electricity."

Kai grinned as a steely glint entered her eyes and Percy suddenly understood why the girls had hit it off so well—the mechanic loved to blow things up just as much as the bird-girl.

"Scary," Nico muttered next to Percy. "And being the son of Hades, I've seen a lot of scary."

**xXx**

"This is it," Kai said, stopping before a door.

Percy stared at the door they had come to. It looked no different than all the other doors they had passed, but he didn't doubt for a second that Kai had led them to the right spot.

A cold feeling of dread settled over Percy, but he shook it off before it could tighten its hold over his whole body.

"Kailani…" Percy said. A warning in his voice, but Kai wasn't listening. Her eyes were dilating in a way that Percy was sure wasn't healthy; her breaths were coming out in short gasps; electricity pulsed wildly around her.

Before Percy could caution her, Kai stepped up to the door and punched in a code.

Instantly, gunshots were fired from somewhere in a room, and Kai was only saved by Nyssa pushing her out of the way with a shield held up.

Kai growled from her sprawled position on the ground, but it was easily drowned out by an all-too familiar snarl that made blood in both of the bird-kids freeze.

"Nyssa, move!" Percy and Kai shouted together.

Nyssa took one step back before a heavy weight slammed into her shield, knocking her flat on her back.

The Eraser growled at the demigod trapped underneath her own shield and raised a paw to end her struggling.

A flurry of black feather barreled into the Eraser, forcefully pushing him off the demigod.

The Eraser only managed one outraged howled before he was silenced.

Kai turned back to the doorway and shouted, "Any others idiots who would like to pull a stunt like that."

Only silence answered her and the bird-girl growled and stalked towards the door.

"Kai, no!" Percy shouted running after her. He had never seen Kai like this before. A crazed, vengeful look had warped her face; her pupils had finally stopped its confusing dilating pattern, but had left her eyes filled with an empty black. Once again, Percy thought he saw a young black-haired girl laughing next to Kai, but once again, he blinked and she was gone.

Kai charged into the room ignoring the cries and warnings from the demigods. Percy reached the door just when two gunshots sounded and echoed off the white walls of the School.

Percy threw himself against the wall and slammed his hands over his ears to block out the frightening sound.

The silence that followed was eerily out of place after the chaos that had just occurred and Percy crept towards the doorway once again, fearing the worst.

Kai and Matthews were on the opposite ends of the room, Kai clutching her arm as a new wound oozed blood out sluggishly and Matthews trying to reload a gun with shaky hands.

Kai seemed to be in too much shock to realize that Matthews had successfully gotten the bullets in his gun and was now raising it towards her head.

A sharp click cut through the heavy silence as Matthews prepared to pull the triggered, but Percy jumped into the room, racing towards Matthews.

A wordless battle cry ripped from his throat as that gut feeling once again appeared and a nearby water faucet began to tremble.

Matthews's eyes snapped up to meet Percy's gaze and just before the water smashed into his body, another gunshot was heard.

"No!" Percy yelled, putting all his anger into the current of water. Matthews made a startled yelp as he was forced to drop the gun and under Percy's guidance the water solidified so that the Whitecoat's body was effectively trapped up against the wall.

"Kai?" Percy asked, whipping his head around to check on his friend. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Kai said, getting shakily to her feet. Percy saw a smoking hole right where Kai's head had been and judging by her sprawled position on the floor, she had dove out of the way of the bullet, barely avoiding it thanks to Percy's distraction. "Watch Matthews," Kai hissed as she grabbed her injured arm.

Percy turned back to Matthews and saw that the water around him had loosened a bit while he had been checking on Kai. Putting more of his concentration into the water, Percy managed to lock the scientist's position firmly against the wall.

_What are we supposed to do now?_ Percy wondered as he surveyed his defeated enemy.

Before he could voice his question, Kai walked calmly over to the prone figure of Dr. Stephen Matthews.

"Kai, what are you doing?" Percy asked. He tried to move towards his friend, but as soon as he took one step, he noticed his hold over the water loosen. Percy mentally cursed his current situation. He couldn't move in fear of accidently giving Matthews some dangerous leeway, but he couldn't let Kai do what was clearly on her mind.

"Should have done this a long time ago," Kai murmured, locked away in her own world as she staggered rather drunkenly towards the Whitecoat. "Could've stopped it… the pain… so many names… faces…"

"Kai, no, stop!" Percy shouted at his friend. Vaguely, Percy's mind registered the sound of the door closing and Annabeth's panicked calls from behind it. Who had closed the door? He couldn't dwell on that thought for very long as the situation before him was more important at the moment. "Stop!"

Kai's eyes were completely black now and she kept muttering to herself.

_Chaos,_ a sickly sweet voice purred in the demigod's mind.

_Who are you? _Percy demanded. _What are you doing to Kai?_

_You should want this, little demigod, Perseus Jackson, my Golden Apple… _the voice laughed. _Don't you hate him—hate what he's done to you? _

Of course, Percy hated him, but not enough to kill him. The bird-kid had cut down many monsters in his life; heck, he'd even cut down just as many Erasers and demigods, but this was different. As far as he could remember, Percy was sure he had never killed a human, especially not in cold blood.

_No! _Percy screamed back desperately at the voice.

_Discord… unfolds… _the voice whispered.

"Kai! No! This isn't right," Percy yelled at the bird-girl, trying desperately to get her attention. "He's already defeated. Killing him won't bring the dead back to life."

_Why are you defending the man who tortured you? _the voice taunted him.

Honestly, Percy wasn't doing this out of pity for the doctor; his concern was completely for Kai. The bird-girl would laugh as a monster disintegrated into dust, snarl in triumph when an Eraser went limp, but never had she ever dirtied her hands with human blood. She would throw a punch without hesitation, but she always held back in terms of power. She had considered it despicable to even think about using her powers on a human—to use it as leverage over them; that is what the Whitecoats had done to her and she had despised the thought of ever stooping to their level.

When Kai snapped out of whatever was holding her, what would she think? Mr. D had mentioned Kai's close calls with insanity, and Percy knew from months at the School that lunacy was not that hard to relapse into. Percy feared if Kai followed through, the remains of her barely patched up sanity would snap.

"Kai!" Percy called again, but the girl was too far gone.

In a stiff, trance-like state, Kai reached out her left arm to grab the doctor's neck in a vice grip. Her other arm came up despite the blood still seeping out of it.

Percy attempted to call out again, but his voice was lodged in his throat when a fierce bright light crackled into existence.

Kai's right arm was completely lost in the light of a deadly, concentrated amount of electricity. Despite the water quickly filling the room as it poured out of the broken sink, the air suddenly became dry and _alive. _The electricity was tightly contained around Kai's arm, but the whole atmosphere of the room buzzed with the power that made the hairs on Percy's neck stand straight up.

Kai's narrowed eyes bore straight into Matthews's and even the devil of the School could not hold back a shiver as the pupiless eyes lit with power and hatred met his own, but the uncertainty that flickered across his face lasted only for a second as he composed himself and stared evenly into the face of death.

"Get it over with, A-22," the doctor said with not even a hint of remorse or fear.

Kai didn't move, but stood still as a statue, one arm firmly around the man's neck and the other poised and ready to deliver the final blow.

"Why hesitate?" Stephan Matthews asked. "Scared? Weak?" The man gave out a choked laugh. "You're too weak to do it, aren't you A-22? Can't pull the trigger? Weak. After all that, you're still weak, you stupid, little—"

The last of the doctor's sentence was lost in an inhuman roar that clawed itself out from Kai's throat.

The light intensified and just before it completely blinded Percy, the demigod saw something that made him feel like he had been slapped in the face.

Fear.

Absolute and unadulterated _fear. _

Percy never expected to see such a look… especially on the face of Dr. Stephen Matthews.

Then, his world dissolved into white.

**xXx**

Silence.

Who knew that silence could be so painful?

Percy stood stock still and for once in his life, was terrified to open his eyes.

The brightness had died down a good few seconds ago, but the demigod was afraid to see the carnage that undoubtedly lay before him.

"Kailani," he moaned.

Only silence greeted his voice.

With eyes still tightly shut, Percy released his hold over the water that had kept the doctor pinned against the wall and heard it answer to gravity with a soft whoosh. After that, Percy could only hear the trickle of water coming from the broken sink behind him.

Percy cursed his own inadequacy. If only he could have had more of his memories, then he might have had more control over the water, so that he could have done more to dissuade Kai from her actions.

Slowly opening his eyes, Percy blinked away the bright spots in his vision and immediately regretted it.

The wall was a complete mess. The white paint was horribly burned. Cracks were splayed across the entire surface. The pristine white of the School had finally been marred.

Then there was the blood.

Matthews's face was covered in it. Now that he was paying attention, Percy could hear the small sounds of blood hitting the wet floor. Even Kai was covered in it. Blood. The girl's face, which was solemn, angry, and tired all at the same time, was splattered with sprinkles of blood. A whole mess of blood covered her arm and that arm was nearly completely buried in—

Percy gasped, blinking rapidly.

Trickle of water from the broken sink gurgled softly as if encouraging him to look again.

The wall was for sure scarred beyond repair, but it lacked the splatter of blood one would expect from a deadly punch; Matthews face was burned badly, but not gushing blood like Percy's hyperactive mind had first saw it to be; the blood on Kai's arm was not Matthews's, but rather her own; looking closer, Percy could now tell that Kai's wounds were self-inflicted from violent release of so much power.

Finally taking in all these details from the wall to Matthews to the blood, Percy eyes again rested on Kai's arm…

…Her arm buried in the wall right next to the doctor's head.

Relief washed over Percy as he picked up on Matthews's ragged breathing, but that was soon forgotten when he noticed Kai shaking uncontrollably as the rage still coursed through her body.

"I wanted to—still want to… So much pain. So many faces… names. Monster deserves to die. Payback for all the suffering…" Kai moaned her nonsense.

"Kailani," Percy said, worried for his friend's state of mind. "You did the right thing. Killing… Killing him wouldn't have solved anything."

"Kill," Kai repeated. "You should be dead. Why are you still breathing?" Kai suddenly ripped her arm out of the wall and raised it as if to strike the doctor, but the fist only hovered there, shaking violently. "Why can't I do it?" Kai snarled.

No answer came in the rhythmic dripping sound of water and blood.

Percy was about to comfort his friend when a small voice spoke up.

"Weak, weak, weak," the doctor muttered like a mantra. His eyes finally opened as he came upon the realization that he was still alive. "Weak. I never knew that I raised you to be so weak, A-22. Too weak to kill."

Kai locked eyes with her torturer and he began to chuckle, letting it escalate until it became a completely mad sound.

And as the crazed look entered into the doctor's eyes, it slowly leaked out of Kai's.

"Too weak to kill. Too weak to kill," Matthews spat in Kai's face.

A flicker of movement caught Percy's attention and the next thing he knew, the doctor was sliding to the floor, breathing, but completely out cold.

Kai shook out her hand as she stared at the silenced doctor in disgust as if he wasn't even worth the punch she had just given him.

"No," Kai's voice choked out.

She stood over her fallen enemy, waiting for him to get up. He didn't.

"No," Kai told the unconscious man again, more firmly this time. "Strong enough to not become like you."

Percy went up to Kai, but then stopped when she let out a shuttering breath.

Percy's ears could barely pick up Kai's next words.

"I promise. You hear that, Gar, you stupid Eraser? I promise."

**Who expected Kai to kill Matthews? *raises hand* Who still wants Kai to kill Matthews? *again raises hand***

**So why did I not kill Matthews?**

**Gar played a more important role in this story than I first anticipated. At first, I never even planned to have him in the story at all. Gar voiced the opposing side to Eris. Eris wants as much discord to continue, while Gar wanted the cycle of hurt to end. He instead wanted his story to be remembered so that it wouldn't be repeated. He knew that Kai wouldn't be satisfied by just killing Matthews so he gave her a new purpose for when she finally left the School behind—to remember. **

**On another random note, Undy Pundy made some fanart on undy-pundy. devian tart. com art/Dedication-to-Raven-319088068 (take out the spaces). If any one else happens to do some sort of pic send me the link. I'd love to see it**

**Pic of Kai: bluesky21543. devian tart. c om gallery/#/d58pk63**

**Pic of Nico: bluesky21543. deviantart. c om gallery/#/d59grns**

**(1) Just random scenes from throughout the series. In order they are: the fight with Ares in the ocean from **_**The Lightning Thief; **_**just generally Percy swimming through the ocean; the almost fight with Thalia after the lost capture-the-flag game with the Hunters of Artemis from **_**The Titan's Curse; **_**Percy making Mount St. Helens erupt in **_**The Battle of the Labyrinth; **_**Percy during the Second Titans War in **_**The Last Olympian. **_

**~Bluesky21543**


	34. Chapter 34: Six Year's Worth of Therapy

**I really did mean to get this chapter out earlier, but then a funny thing called life happened and then… yeah… Thank you all for being so patient with me. **

**Answers to reviews:**

**Daughterofthehunt: **Hahaha sorry I have not read the Harry Potter series (shocking, I know), but I do know what your mean about using the name Ron, so just for you I changed the name. I'm glad you are reading more! I personally am not a big fan of Maximum Ride (I just like the concept more than the story), but I would never discourage anyone from reading. Whether you read Maximum Ride or some other series, just keep reading!

**Undy Pundy: **Thanks for the comment as usually. Glad to know that you are still enjoying this story. P.S. Thanks again for the picture P.S.S. Thanks you! :D P.S.S.S. I probably could look up who made up P.S.s on Google or something, but I'm too lazy…

**Frostpuppy: **Thank you for the picture. Send me the link if you do any more :D

**Cookie my life: **Thanks for the review! After this there will be only one more chapter (epilogue). I know, sad right? I already have a plan for the ending, but thanks for the ideas any way. I have considered doing a sequel, but as of right now, I don't have anything planned. I have been asking for ideas, so if you have any more, feel free to tell me!

**Thank you also to Katie85386, yanksrock615, and Guest for all your awesome reviews. I really appreciate them all! :D**

**Chapter 34 – Six Year's Worth of Therapy**

**Kailani's POV**

"I probably look so stupid right now."

Kai sighed, running a hand through her loose bangs, but then wincing when her right arm reminded her of the abuse it had received only a couple hours ago.

"I've been talking to a pile of rocks for the past, like, half hour or something," Kai muttered ruefully.

Kai looked at said pile of rocks as they lay there innocent and un-responding. It was all that was left to mark the existence of a strange Eraser named Gar.

After the final defeat of Dr. Stephen Matthews, Kai marched passed her friends toward Gar's body. The bird-girl couldn't stand the thought of just leaving the body in the dirt of the accursed School, so with a soft-spoken request from Kai, Percy easily agreed to take her out on Mrs. O'leary to a secluded area a few miles from the School.

Gar's final resting place was where Kai first found her freedom; the Armargosa River gurgled quietly only a few yards away from where the bird-girl sat and soothed some tension in her body.

"You'll probably be glad to hear I didn't kill him," Kai said after a short pause. "All of your philosophical talk must of worn me down because I could not kill him."

Anger began to boil again as the doctor's face flashed through you mind; Kai clenched her teeth and turned towards the river, but this time, its sound had no cooling effect on her.

"You know what, Gar? I still want to kill him." Kai gave a short, humorless laugh. "When I held him there and I was about to finish him off, I felt so… giddy, like I couldn't wait to feel what his blood felt like on my fingers. How sick is that?"

Both hands were now running hazardously through her loose, dark hair.

"What sick human relishes in the thought of killing someone else in cold blood?" Kai whispered brokenly.

Dark wings drew closer to her body as if trying to bring comfort to her mind, but they only served as reminders of how _un-_human she really was.

"Why does it— What are _you _doing here?" Kai leapt to her feet and snarled the last part out as an unwelcomed presence made itself known.

The girl with obsidian eyes stood before Kai; her lips had that unyielding, mischievous smile, but her eyes had lost some of its sickly mirth as they took on a more thoughtful look.

"Not the outcome I had anticipated," the goddess of discord finally said, completely ignoring Kai's outraged question. "Although, still amusing all the same. The discord still reigns so violently in so many hearts, but I must admit I was expecting a more… volatile ending."

"Sorry to disappoint," Kai growled.

"Disappointed? No. How can I be such? The discord cannot be quenched; chaos cannot be contained," Eris said evenly, unusually subdued compared to the last time Kai saw her when she had been laughing like a freaking maniac. "However, I must admit, I am slightly—oh what do you humans call it—confused."

Kai snorted at the goddess's feigned ignorance of the word, but Eris waved the bird-girls contempt away with a dismissive hand.

"After centuries of watching you mortals, I would have thought I've figured you all out," the goddess continued as a smirk slowly grew across her face.

"We're just full of surprises," Kai said without any emotion. Her eyes drifted towards the unmarked grave.

After a moment's pause, Kai finally turned back to the goddess. "Get out," the bird-girl said evenly. "I'm pretty sure you're done here."

"Done?" Eris repeated. "It's never done. You cannot contain Chaos, can never stop it. Ever heard of the law of entropy? Things fall from order to disorder… _always. _You may have peace now, little human, but how long will it last? A year? A few months? Perhaps only a week or two?"

Kai narrowed her eyes at the giggling goddess. "Get out _now,_" Kai hissed.

Eris made no motion to leave; in fact, she actually moved closer to Kai.

Kai instinctively flinched away from the close proximity of their bodies, but she gave no other signs of her discomfort.

Fathomless obsidian met brilliant amethyst.

Kai almost jumped when an ear-splitting laugh filled her ears. Gods, she hated that laugh.

The goddess's laughter died down to small snickers as she said, "You and Matthews made this game so much more enjoyable, and to think that you two are merely human, not a drop of godly blood in you."

Her black, smoky dress billowed in some nonexistent wind, whipping around the goddess and pulling tight around her slim frame so that it almost looked skeletal. Then, little by little, it along with the goddess began to dissipate until only her piercing eyes and crazed smile could be seen.

"I thoroughly enjoyed this game, human," the sickly sweet voice giggled. "I hope we can play again sometime."

And with that said, the goddess of discord faded into the winds.

The young bird-girl was left alone with an unmarked grave.

**Percy's POV**

Percy looked up at the sound of trudging feet making their way towards him.

Catching sight of his friend, the demigod swiftly got to his feet and brushed off any clinging dirt from his jeans.

Percy sucked in a breath to call out to his friend, but the shout died in his throat when he saw the defeated look in the girl's face.

"For someone who just kicked major Eraser butt, you don't look exactly thrilled," Percy commented when she had gotten close enough to hear him.

Kai shot an annoyed look at Percy before her eyes flickered away from his face and back towards the freshly dug grave just beyond her line of sight. Percy frowned at Kai's lack of response and followed her gaze to where he knew the stacked stones of the grave lay.

"I'm pretty sure when one wins a battle you're supposed to celebrate," Percy said, trying to urge some sort of response from the bird-girl.

Kai didn't answer for the longest time until a soft whisper finally escaped her lips. "We won. But at what price?"

"Kai, he would have died anyways," Percy said gently, trying to snap his friend out of her lapse of depression. "It wasn't the battle that killed him. The expiration date—"

"I wasn't talking about Gar," Kai interrupted, her voice rising slightly with unchecked emotion. "How many demigods have been injured? Killed? The School may have other operations out there that may come after you now. The secrets of you demigods have now been compromised." Kai finally turned to meet his gaze and Percy saw raw fear in them. "You can't possibly think that this is the end, can you?"

A chill ran up Percy's spine as the words worked their poison into his mind. The demigod could finally understand Kai's reason for so much fear. She had been fighting and running for the past six years of the life. She had known no other existence besides the constant struggle and pain-filled wakefulness. It had become her reality for the past few years, and Percy was sure that if he did not have the bits of memory trickling past the fractured wall, he would also be in a similar state of near-panic.

Unable to offer any verbal comfort or reassurance, Percy stepped closer to Kai. With each deliberate step, Percy tried to chase away Kai's demons and doubts. Finally come up right in front of her, the demigod just stopped, waiting.

Kai hesitated for a second before taking the last step to close the distance and leaned into his embrace.

Slowly, as if the warmth of his body melted away all her fears, Kai released the tension in her stance and willingly accepted his comfort.

"Hey, um, Kai?" Percy began awkwardly.

"Hmm?" Kai mumbled tiredly into his shoulder.

"I know that there's the possibility of the School still coming after us and that we may not have defeated all of them yet, and I know there's nothing we can do to reverse… what was done to us, but… I think this battle today… it gave them a fair warning about what demigods can do. I don't think they'll be coming back."

Kai pulled away so that her eyes could study his face.

Percy wasn't sure what she was looking for, but he was determined to relieve all her fears.

"And even if they do," he continued. "We'll just—"

"We'll just kick their sorry butts all over again," Kai finished with a familiar smirk on her face.

Percy let out a small laugh. "Yeah, because we're just stubborn like that."

Kai nodded as a steely glint returned to her eyes.

"We should get back to the others," Kai said briskly, stepping out of Percy's embrace and effectively cutting off their bonding time quite abruptly. "It's been at least a couple hours."

Not willing to let the moment end on that unsatisfactory note, Percy reached out and squeezed his friend's arm reassuringly. "I'm proud, Kailani," Percy murmured to her.

Kai paused and gave him a questioning look.

"I'm glad you didn't kill Matthews," Percy clarified. "It didn't feel… it wasn't right. It took a lot of strength just to walk away." Percy hesitated before adding, "I didn't know him, but I'm sure your friend, Gar, would be proud too."

Kai stared at him and Percy was slightly surprised to see moisture gathering around the edges of those purple orbs. The bird-girl blinked rapidly and the unshed tears disappeared, so that Percy wasn't even sure if they had been there in the first place.

"I wanted to—still want to…" Kai whispered brokenly.

Percy's grip on her arm tightened as she swayed a little. "But you didn't," Percy stated firmly. "And you won't."

He tugged on the bird-girl's arm until she lifted her head to meet his gaze again. "That's why I'm here, Kai," Percy said. "…Why _we're_ here."

Kai nodded slowly at Percy's declaration and he smiled as he saw his message sink in.

Giving Kai's arm a final squeeze, Percy stepped away, put two fingers in his mouth, and gave a true, high-pitched New Yorker whistle.

Instantly, the ground began to shake and the small earthquake was immediately followed by a flurry of happy barking. An overjoyed hellhound leapt out from the hazy backdrop of the dessert and snuggled next to her master.

"Good girl, Mrs. O'Leary," Percy said, giving her a loving scratch behind the ear. The hellhound responded with a pleased croon and knelt down to allow the demigod on her back.

"You know, you didn't have to come with me," Kai said, getting up onto Mrs. O'Leary's back behind Percy. "I know how the shadow-traveling thing works now, so I could have just done it on my own."

Percy smirked ruefully even though Kai couldn't see it. "There's no way I'm trusting you with my dog again."

Percy felt Kai shift guiltily behind him. "It wasn't like I stole her or anything."

The demigod let out a laugh at his friend's discomfort, just as the hellhound plunged headfirst into the darkness.

**xXx**

The first thing that Percy noticed when they arrived back at the School's courtyard was the lack of unconscious (or dead) bodies littering the ground, which was a huge relief.

The second thing the bird-kid noticed was the group of demigods standing in the center of the courtyard in deep conversation with a few kids running out of the circle every now and then, mostly likely to do some task or convey another order.

"Hey," Percy called out as Mrs. O'Leary came to a stop right beside the circle.

Annabeth and Nico gave both Percy and Kai acknowledging nods, but did not stop their conversation.

"There's still the possibility of a spy," Annabeth insisted to the group. "Until we find him or her, I won't feel safe with my back turned."

Clarisse growled, "Whoever it is, I'm gonna—"

"It's already taken care of," Kai interrupted nonchalantly.

Every eye turned towards the bird-girl, but she simply shrugged as if it was old news.

"Who was it?" Will asked softly, his quiet voice reflecting the tension of the entire group.

Kai grit her teeth at some unpleasant memory, but it only lasted a second before she forced her body to relax and put on a tired, lazy grin. "Not a camper. I'll tell you later."

"That's not an answer!" Clarisse practically screeched, while the rest of the demigods let out a sigh of relief, thankful that it was not one of their own that had betrayed them. Oblivious to the rest of the group's ease, Clarisse continued, "I should give them a piece of my mind for all the troubles they caused—"

"If Kai is sure that the 'spy' is of no importance right now, I think it will be wise to move on to more pressing matters," Annabeth interjected before Clarisse could go off on a rant.

Hesitant nods were seen all around the circle, while Clarisse scowled and muttered under her breath, miffed that she had been interrupted _twice_, but clearly seeing that there were things of more importance.

"She won't be bothering us any time soon," Kai answered confidently. "I'll be sure to fill you all in later."

Annabeth nodded her understanding and said, "Then the next thing is what to do with the School. More specifically the scientists and those Erasers."

The demigods shifted uncertainly as they muttered to their neighbors.

"Kill them," Clarisse snorted gruffly.

Percy felt Kai stiffen at the two words, but looking over at his friend, he couldn't see anything in her face that gave away her desire to approve the idea.

Luckily, before anyone else could latch onto the idea of revenge, Annabeth spoke, "No, enough blood has been spilled today and they are human after all."

"Barely," Conner Stoll snorted, eyeing an Eraser who had not yet transformed back to his more human shape.

"Since they're _human_, then just let the _humans_ take care of it." Everyone turned in time to see Nyssa jab a thumb towards the accursed building. "I'm sure there's enough illegal stuff in there to put these guys away for life."

Annabeth nodded slowly. "That could work," she said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth thoughtfully.

"Yeah, right," Travis snorted, nudging his brother scornfully in the side. "What are you going to do? Call them up and say, 'Hey! Thought you might want to know you have a bunch of psychos in the area, so come on over and arrest them.' Somehow I don't believe they'll take a bunch of teenagers seriously."

"We need something that will catch the locals' attention," Percy said.

Kai looked at the building. "I would say burn the stupid thing into the ground, but the police will need some evidence, huh?"

Percy shot her a withering look. The signal didn't have to be that dramatic… or dangerous.

"You need something really flashy and eye-catching without hurting the building?"

Percy turned to see Nyssa's grinning face.

"Uh-huh," he confirmed a little wary about where this was going.

The wild grin on the girl's face widened. "Leave that to us," Nyssa said. "We'll put on a show the locals will not only see, but also never forget."

She spun on her heels and practically skipped over to a bunch of Hephaestus kids.

"Hey boys!" she called to her siblings. "Get over here. We're going to blow something up!"

The group caught on to their sister's excitement and a savage cheer went up.

"Remember to not touch the building," Percy called after her, but he couldn't be sure that Nyssa had heard him as she led her siblings away.

Kai was chuckling next to him, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I can see why you two hit it off so well," he said. "You both are scary violent and don't seem to know the meaning of the word 'subtle.'"

Kai flashed him a grin that reminded him of the one Nyssa had given him not too long ago.

"Subtlety gets you no where," she informed him.

Percy shrugged and let the subject drop. Actually, her words gave him an idea.

"Come with me," he said suddenly, grabbing Kai's hand. "Can you guys organize the rest of this?" he asked Nico and Annabeth.

The two exchanged confused glances, but nodded their ascent.

Turning back, Percy proceeded to lead Kai back into the School and through the many corridors. He hadn't been to many places in the School's facilities, but there was one room that he really wanted to pay a visit to.

"Hey, Percy, where are we going?" Kai asked. "And let go of my hand! I don't want to feel your sweaty, grimy one on mine."

Percy let go and caught sight of Kai's scowl.

Chuckling, he answered, "You'll see."

He was pretty sure that Kai was scowling at his vague answer, but he didn't turn around to check. Instead he continued his trek with Kai trailing after him.

He finally reached his destination. The door was closed of course, but a small flick of his hand fixed that problem and the door slid open to reveal the room inside.

It was exactly as he remembered. The lights were still on, so Percy could clearly see the white wall, the table, the tray of tools right next to it, and a bunch of other scientific gizmos that he could never name.

Kai walked in beside him and immediately tensed when she saw what room he had brought her too.

"Why did you bring me here?" she hissed, glaring daggers at the orderly room.

Percy looked at her confused.

Catching the look, Kai snarled. "This is the operation room where the brought me in to work on me. Twice in fact."

Percy smiled, which only served to tick off the bird-girl more.

"Hey, sorry Kai," he said trying to calm down the fuming girl. "I didn't know that you had history with this room too, but since I know now, I think this will mean as much to you as it will for me."

Kai broke off her scowl to give him a questioning glance.

Instead of explaining, Percy decided to let his actions speak for themselves. Raising his hands towards a sink that was sitting against one wall, Percy tugged viciously at it until the whole thing came ripping out of its perch. Water immediately began filling the room, and Percy directed its flow so that it slammed into a bunch of equipment in another corner.

Percy lowered his arm and looked directly into Kai's violet eyes. "This was my operation room too," he explained.

Kai's eyes widened. "Percy… Your memories… Can you remember?" she asked softly.

"Bits and pieces, but yeah, it's starting to come back," Percy declared.

Kai nodded, her eyes shining, and then the smile changed into a wicked smirk as she observed the destruction Percy had initiated.

"And you always said I was too violent," Kai snickered as she gestured at the mess.

Percy shrugged, realizing that his actions were something Kai would have done.

"I'm almost disappointed I didn't think of it first," Kai said, her eyes gleaming maliciously.

"Maybe some of you rubbed off on me over the past year." Percy paused and then added, "That's kind of a scary thought."

Kai snorted. "Don't worry. You're much too innocent and nice to be remotely close to me."

Kai looked at the operation table and the tray of tools that had remained untouched thus far.

Kai cast another wild grin at her friend and said, "To properly celebrate your returning memories, I do believe some fireworks are in order.

Reaching out a hand, a bolt of electricity shot out of her hand and slammed into the table. The force of the blow wrenched the table off its legs (that had been bolted to the ground) and it crumbled into a smoking heap.

After another quick glance at each other, the bird-girl and demigod proceeded to wreck havoc upon the unfortunate room.

In Percy's slowly returning memory, he could never remember having so much fun.

**Kailani's POV**

After a good ten or fifteen minutes of abusing the room, Kai and Percy walked out together.

Kai was soaking wet, but it felt good since the desert was still hot even though the sun had long ago set. Not only that, Kai felt like she was walking on clouds. Destroying the room where everything had started was all the therapy she needed to make up for the last six years of her life.

She immediately caught sight of Nico, Annabeth, and Nyssa standing together and looking at something out of Kai's line of sight.

"Hey," Kai called out. "Did we miss anything?"

Nyssa shook her head. "The show just started."

Percy and Kai turned around and watched a spectacular fireworks show go off. Kai had no idea where Nyssa and her siblings had gotten the materials to do things (maybe she didn't want to know), but the Hephaestus kids were now letting off a marvelous nighttime display.

Flares and fireworks dances around one another and shown brilliantly in the dark sky.

"I think that should get someone's attention," Nyssa said quite proudly.

Nico turned to face Kai and Percy. "All the Erasers and scientists are tied up in front of the gate. Even the ones we had fought in the desert are here. One of the Hephaestus kids erased any video footage of us on the video cameras, and we've double-checked the building. No one's left."

"Not even any experiments?" Kai asked.

Nico shook his head. "All the captured demigods are out and being taken care of. None of them had been experimented on yet, so they're fine. Grover found a bunch of animals, but he let them go, and the ones that can't be released back into the wild he'll take back to camp."

"There were no other human experiments?" Kai questioned.

"Nope," Annabeth answered. "Only animal experiments and our demigods."

Kai let out a relieved sigh, a huge weight lifted off her.

Nyssa looked back at the fireworks display. "We should get going. Humans are going to start arriving soon."

The group nodded and went to where the rest of the demigods were gathered, waiting to go.

They passed by where all the Erasers and scientists were tied up.

Most of them wouldn't meet their eyes. Some showed fear, others shame. A few brave Erasers growled at the group, but a snarl from Kai shut them up. Only one person openly glared at the group and refused to look away even when Kai had let out that snarl.

Kai paused in front of Dr. Stephen Matthews. His mouth was gagged so he couldn't speak, and his gaze was a little unfocused because of the blow he had received from Kai earlier, but none of that took away from hate that filled his eyes.

Kai didn't say anything, but just looked down on his face.

"Kailani." The girl felt Percy's hand grab her shoulder. "Let's go. It's over."

Kai nodded and then smiled. It wasn't a sneer or mocking or even one of those weird half-smiles she normally gave. It was genuine. It was a smile that Kai had before she had been captured. A smile that you might have seen when she raced among the waves on the beach or defeated an opponent in her karate class or shared a joke with her brother.

"Yeah," Kai agreed, turning away from Matthews, the School, and its experiments. "It's over."

Without a glance backwards, Kai went to join her friends.

**Only one more chapter left people! I know… so sad. The epilogue will probably be coming out in a week, so stay tuned for that. **

**I barely edited this chapter because (1) I'm really tired right now and (2) I'm feeling extremely lazy, so if any of you find some typo, please message me or put it in your review and I will happily change it. Thanks!**

**Frostpuppy had drawn a quick picture for this fanfiction. I can't post the link because won't let me, but you can go on deviantart and look it up on frostpuppy's page. **

**Until next time!**

**~Bluesky21543**


	35. Epilogue: Back Again

**So here it is; the last chapter. Aww… sad right? I had a lot of fun writing this, but when I finished it, I was kind of disappointed the story had to end. **

**Just something random and weird about this chapter… I had actually begun writing this around chapter 19. I know, weird right? But that's how I write. I write chapter 19, go to epilogue, go back to chapter 19, write chapter 25, and so on. Stuff like this makes me wonder if I have slight ADD… **

**Anyways, thank you so much for reading and congratulations if you are actually reading this since you have survived this wild ride with me. **

**Answers to reviews:**

**Daughterofthehunt: **Haha Well I changed it anyways… Yeah, I only read the first three books of the Maximum Ride series because a friend told me only to read that far… I guess it's just personal preference. Enjoy Hunger Games! I think those series have a bit more depth than most typical teenage book series and a lot of good conflict. Anyways, we'll see about a sequel. Who knows? I never expected to write fanfiction in the first place, so maybe I'll do one or maybe I won't. Thanks for the comment

**Undy Pundy: **Awww… the last of our very weird review/response randomness. I just want to give a very heartfelt thank you for pretty much being a long time reviewer since the beginning. I have honestly enjoyed the short, yet amusing conversations we have had. So… THANK YOU! P.S. Actually this chapter didn't jump a month like my other chapters have; it could either happen the day after or only a few days after. I never specify, so it's open for reader interpretation. P.S.S. So this is the end… *sniff* *sniff* Good bye Perhaps I shall see you on some other story

**InsaneAndCo: **Thank you so much! I'm glad you like the story and the characters. It really encourages me when people like you leave such nice reviews like that. When you refer to "him," I'm assuming you mean Kai's brother, and yes, she is very close to her brother. Her family issue will be addressed in this final chapter, so read!

**Angelfabeth: **Yes, I could not resist putting that little scene in there. It was quite fun to see them both trash that room. Thank you so much for all your reviews and continual support. :D

**Special thanks to Louisa4533 and Cookie my life for your wonder and much appreciated reviews :D**

**Epilogue – Beginnings to Ends, and Back Again**

**Percy's POV**

Percy stared at the dark waters. The gentle, calming sound of the waves resonated within his entire being.

Memories swam on the surface of his mind, leaking out of that crack in the wall, while the wall itself crumbled away little by little. He didn't remember everything, but those memories weren't going any where and he had time.

He was sitting on the dock of the canoeing lake, his bare feet dangled just above the water's edge. High above him Kailani traced the moonlight with her wings tips, soaring and diving in a mysterious night dance.

"Are you going to join her?" a soft voice asked from behind him.

Percy smiled and shook his head. "Flying's Kai's thing. I rather keep my two feet on the ground or let a Pegasus do all the work."

"Scared, Seaweed Brain?" the voice teased.

Percy grinned, but said in a mocking offended tone, "Hey, you would be too if Zeus wouldn't hesitate to zap your butt."

The girl joined him on the deck, stretching to dip her bare feet into the still waters.

"True," Annabeth said slowly. "But you do know that there are some sea birds out there and you don't see Zeus shooting them out of the sky just because they like the water just as much as the air."

As always Annabeth had him beat.

Annabeth turned, and Percy caught sight of the mischievous grin as she elbowed him.

"Well?" she urged.

"You're right," Percy admitted.

Annabeth laughed at Percy's expression.

"And don't forget that, Seaweed Brain," she taunted.

They relaxed back into comfortable silence, watching the wild dance above their heads.

"Percy?"

The demigod turned to look at the girl next to him. Her voice now held a slightly more serious tone.

"So how much do you remember?" she asked.

"Not much, but more with each passing hour," he answered honestly. "There are still some holes, mostly in maybe the last five or six years of my life. Basically, I remember most of my life in New York and just bits and pieces of my life in Camp Half-Blood."

"Oh," was all Annabeth could say. She sounded slightly disappointed.

"Are you waiting for one memory in particular?" Percy asked curiously.

Annabeth shook her head, but Percy noticed that she wouldn't meet his eyes and that she scooted just a tad bit farther away as if she realized she had just overstepped some invisible boundary.

For some reason, this made Percy a little sad, although he didn't know why.

"I sort of remember the day I disappeared. I remember there was an Eraser, but that's about it…" Percy stopped.

Annabeth still wasn't looking at him, so Percy dropped it and stared out at the waters.

"Ow!"

The quietness of the night was suddenly disturbed by a certain demigod's outcry.

Percy rubbed the new sore spot on his shoulder and gave a glare at Annabeth's still clenched fist.

"What was that for?" he asked the girl who had punched him only seconds ago.

"Don't ever do that again," Annabeth said, her face serious, but her eyes betrayed her amusement at Percy's pain.

"Hey, it's not like I meant for any of that to happen. But besides that, I also _remember_ that I had said that you were nicer than Kai," Percy returned, the last comment referring to his throbbing arm.

"I was nice so I didn't scare you away. You were so helpless then," Annabeth said.

"I couldn't help that!" Percy exclaimed, slightly irritated.

"Besides, I'm never going to make things easy for you, Percy Jackson," the girl said with a grin. (1)

Her words triggered another memory, and Percy smiled back, a warm feeling beginning to spread throughout his body.

Percy stretched out his wings and resettled them so that they surrounded both him and Annabeth.

The girl looked at him in surprise; the gesture was more forward than anything he had done since his return.

Percy looked out straight ahead. His mind drifted like it did a lot the past day or two as a memory would unexpectedly appear. He had learned just to stop whatever he was doing and let the memory replay itself in his mind no matter how painful it was. A slight headache came like always, but Percy was more focused on the feelings of this memory; it made Percy slightly guilty, but then suddenly joyful. He let a subtle smile play on his lips; the memory was his secret, for now at least.

A movement and feeling made him turn his gaze a bit, and he saw that Annabeth had taken one of his longer feathers and was rubbing the silky surface with a look of wonder on her face.

In the moonlight, she looked so…

"I'll try not to let anything like that happen again," he said.

Annabeth's gentle hands betrayed him, and he winced at the slight tug of one of his feathers.

"Hey, watch how hard you pull," he complained.

That was just met with another tug.

"Just 'try'?" Annabeth questioned, clearly not satisfied with his answer.

He shrugged. "We're demigods. Our lives are supposed to be difficult."

Annabeth thought for a moment. "I guess that's true… So promise me you'll at least _try—really try—_not to disappear and lose your memory again." She tugged at the captive feather to emphasize the word "try."

Instead of trying to pull her feather away from Annabeth, he drew it closer, which in turn forced Annabeth a little closer.

Percy's face mimicked the mischievous grin Annabeth had given him earlier as he answered, "I'll promise that if you do me a favor."

"What's that?" Annabeth asked him suspiciously. The closeness of their bodies was making her happy and unsure at the same time.

"I kind of need help remembering something," Percy said. "I just kind of remembered it, but I think it involves a certain kiss… underwater?"

Annabeth faced was confused for a second, and then suddenly it lit up when realized what he had said.

Laughing, Annabeth threw her arms around Percy.

He didn't have to ask twice.

**The End**

**Okay so that's not really the end. There's still a little bit more, but it is the end of Percy's story. So how'd you like that? I hope I made all you Percabeth fans happy. As I have told some of you already, I am not a romantic writer so if you want to know what happens right after this you're just going to have to use that imagination that I hope you all have. If you don't like the Percabeth pairing, sorry, but I prefer to keep pairings the way authors wrote them. **

**Now we will see the end of Kai's story. **

**Kailani's POV**

_Can't this car go any faster?_

Kai scowled out the window, her hand tapping nervously on her seat.

Then again, did she want the car to go faster? Maybe it would be better if it went slower. That way she would have a little more time to think.

Kai silently groaned and rubbed her head.

Never mind about thinking. She already had a killer headache from many days of intense thinking.

"Kai, relax," Percy called from the driver's seat.

Kai scowled at the back of his head.

"Okay, yeah. I'll do that. I can definitely take some notes on your stellar example of perfect calm from when you entered Camp Half-Blood for the first time in a year," she shot back.

"Hey! That was different," Percy protested.

"Really? How?" Kai demanded, crossing her arms and sending a death glare so Percy could clearly see it in the rearview mirror.

"O-kay, maybe it's not so different," Percy admitted. "But, then at least I have experience now, and I can tell you that worrying like this isn't going to help."

"But you only had one year. It's been _six _years for me," Kai returned, still glaring.

"But I didn't have my memories," Percy countered.

"That is true," a third voice injected. "But it also, in a way, might also make it hard for Kai. She has her memories, so things might have changed, especially in so many years…"

Percy broke his eyes away from the road long enough to give his once-again girlfriend a warning look. "Not helping, Annabeth," he muttered.

"I was pointing out something you missed," Annabeth spoke up again.

Percy gave her another pained look.

"Hey. Remember that I said that I'll never make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth reminded.

"I really think that nickname's getting old," Percy muttered.

Annabeth laughed. Despite the seatbelt, she managed to reach over and place a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek.

Through the rearview mirror, Kai could definitely make out a blush.

"You guys are so cute," Kai said with a smirk, momentarily forgetting her plight.

Annabeth let out another laugh, while Percy's blush deepened and he began to mumble a thanks or maybe it was an insult.

Kai returned her gaze to the outside world. It flashed rapidly by her, making the outside seem blurred and unfocused. Right now, the car was her only reality, leaving her in her haunting thoughts.

So much had changed in such a short amount of time. With the defeat of the School, Kai and Percy could not deny the sense of liberation they felt. They weren't sure what had exactly happened to Dr. Matthews, but seeing the School go up in flames (not literally), they doubted the Whitecoats would be trying anything in a hurry. All she could really hope for was that some authorities had seen Nyssa's show and discovered the School and all its dirty, little secrets. Every one of the demigods quickly recovered from the attacks and none felt threatened when leaving the camp. Percy's memories came back gradually and had resulted in an ecstatic new (old?) girlfriend and a sullen Drew. Kai couldn't disagree with the fact that there were changes in herself as well. She felt comfortable in Camp Half-Blood despite having no godly parent. She was accepted and in return she accepted. Friendships grew, laughs were shared, and scowls were less often seen.

One of the biggest surprises was when Chiron had taken her aside and offered her a place in Camp Half-Blood. She had the choice of staying year-round or being with the Blofis family during the school year.

The mentioning of the Blofis family had shocked Kai. Chiron explained to her that Sally had told both Chiron and Percy that she and Paul were more than willing to take Kai in as their daughter.

To say Kai was happy at that point would have been an understatement. The sense of belonging broke down many barriers she had placed in her life over that past six years.

She had thanked both Chiron and Sally Blofis and asked for some time to think her options over.

**Flashback**

_Kai stood on the dock of the canoeing lake. Like Percy, she found the area calming. No one was currently there, so the only sound to be heard was the lapping of the waves on the shore. _

_It reminded her of the ocean and all the trips she had taken there as a child. Even though the School was in the west coast, she couldn't help but miss California. While running from the Erasers, she had always told herself that she hated California. When she had first left it, she had been relieved beyond belief, but the longer she stayed away, the more she felt drawn back towards it. She had grown up on the sunny beaches and had found a second home among the waves. Her father had said that salt water ran through her veins because of all the times she had begged to go to the beach. _

_The east coast had its own beaches, but they didn't compare to the ones she had left behind in California. _

_The sudden shift in the electric fields around her warned the bird-girl she had company. A few seconds later, two pairs of feet could be heard as they hit the wooden planks of the dock. _

"_Hey, Percy, Annabeth," she greeted without turning around. _

_A pair of swallows caught the bird girl's attention and she watched them as they dipped and dived in the wind. _

"_Do you have a minute, Kai?" Annabeth asked. _

_Kai shrugged, eyes still following the swallow in their crazy dance. _

"_You said your last name was Hale, right?" the daughter of Athena asked._

_Kai nodded, wondering what that had to do with anything. _

_Percy started talking this time. "Um, Kai, not to get your hopes up or anything, but um… you see, um…" _

_Kai sighed. Percy could be really idiotic some times. "Spit it out already, Seaweed Brain."_

"_Hey! Not you too," Percy protested. _

_Kai smirked. If he was going to give her nicknames, she could just as well do the same. _

"_What Percy will eventually get around to saying," Annabeth interrupted. "Is that we did some research on some of the information you gave us."_

"_Research?" Kai asked. "Like with internet? I thought you said that, that let monsters know where you are just as well as phones did. And what information?"_

"_We went to a nearby library and used their computers," Annabeth explained. "Anyways, the information, well…"_

_The swallows had finished their dance and went their separate ways while twittering their good-byes to one another. _

_Kai was irritated now. Finally turning around to look at her friends, she said, "Is one of you going to tell me what you two are talking about because I'm not making any sense of your half-finished sentences."_

_Annabeth looked somewhat uncomfortable as she held out a piece of paper towards Kai. "Is your father's name Brian Hale by any chance?"_

_Kai looked in shock at the two demigods before taking the paper from Annabeth's hand. _

_It was an article with a fuzzy picture (the printer must have been bad). _

_With an encouraging nod from Annabeth and Percy, she read. _

"_**Here, Brian Hale can be seen just before he cuts the red ribbon that will open up his company's new facilities. **_

"_**Brian Hale became the CEO of Vintex ten years ago and has made the small company, that had started on the little islands of Hawaii, into a huge success. **__(2)_

"_**This success has been proven by the recent expansion that can be seen here. Vintex has set up headquarters in Hawaii, Los Angeles, and now San Francisco."**_

_The article went on to say more, but Kai eyes frantically skimmed down as it just rambled on about the multiple successes of Vintex. _

_The name "Brian" popped up again, but it obviously wasn't part of the article. It was actually handwritten with an address underneath. _

_Kai looked up, hope and confusion clashing in her eyes. _

"_I called the company—Vintex—and that's the address the secretary gave me when I asked how to send something to the Hale family," Annabeth said. _

"_That article was dated three years ago," Percy said. _

_Kai looked at him questioningly before she understood. One of the first places they had gone to after their escape was Kai's old home. An elderly couple had answered the door and said they had no idea where the previous owners had gone. _

_Horribly disappointed, Kai had put the disappearance of her family out of her mind so that she could focus on keeping Percy and herself alive. _

_Now, the article in her hand explained at least one of the burning questions she had put off for so long. _

"_Is that him?" Percy asked hesitantly. _

_Kai looked at the article again. The name was right. Even the blurred picture held some resemblance…_

_Looking up at Percy, she asked, "When can we go?"_

**End of Flashback**

Percy and Annabeth had both agreed, quite enthusiastically, about joining her on her little "road trip" to San Francisco, California.

Kai was extremely grateful for their presence because she was going crazy. At this rate, she was definitely on the road to joining Mr. D's little "fan-club."

Questions constantly plagued her mind and she kept trying to smother them under scowls.

"Kai? Kai? Kailani!"

The bird-girl snapped her head up and gave Percy a bewildered look before she noticed the car had stopped moving.

"Are—are we here?" she asked weakly.

Percy and Annabeth nodded, casting concerned looks at her.

She scowled. They didn't have to look so depressed. From the way they were staring, you would have thought that they were dropping her off at a funeral, not her house.

"Which house?" she said, a little more confident this time.

"That one," Annabeth answered, pointing at the house they had parked right in front of.

Kai looked at it for any tell-tale signs. The three weren't a hundred percent sure that the secretary had given them the right address, but there was no harm in just looking, right?

This house was nothing like her old house. It was bigger for one thing and newer too. Her old house had been more of a rundown, yet homey condo. This one looked a little more… serious.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Percy asked.

Kai glared at him. "You're staying right here."

Without another word, Kai unbuckled herself and opened the door.

"Hey, Kailani."

The bird-girl paused and looked back at her friend.

"No matter what…" Percy trailed off, not sure how to finish his thought, but Kai understand.

"Yeah, thanks," she said, smiling slightly.

Kai walked on the stone path that led to the front door.

Six years.

What was she suppose to do?

Knock on the door? Yeah, that would probably be the first step, but what after that? _Oh, hey! Remember me? Your daughter? Sorry for going MIA for the last six years, but you see… I have wings… _Yeah, that should go over well.

She was about halfway across the stone path, but she had stopped to once again take in the immensity of the house.

The large house looked threatening, unfamiliar.

Kai really hoped that the house did not reflect on its inhabitants inside.

Something snagged her attention, making her pause.

She smelled it before she saw it. A sweet, welcoming smell. Then when she turned her head, she noticed the soft, pure white.

Stepping off the stone path, Kai made her way to the inviting object.

Reaching the short detour, Kai reached out and stroked the white flowers. The scent filled air around her. Plumeria. (3)

Her mom loved plumeria, but then again, so did a lot of people. Just because it was in front of this house didn't mean her family was actually inside…

"You can take the flower if you want to," a voice appeared behind her.

Kai stiffened and forced herself not to turn around and attack whoever just snuck up on her.

She had been so focused on the plumeria that she failed to notice she was no longer alone.

She allowed her hand to finish its journey down the flower before it fell at her side.

The voice continued talking amiably. "They're my family's favorite. They have the most awesome scent, right? My mom loves to share the plumeria. She calls it sharing the 'aloha.'" (4)

It was him; she was sure of it. The voice had definitely changed, but the way he spoke so easily and almost lazily was all too familiar.

Kai forced herself to turn around.

The boy was about thirteen-years-old. His once-spiky hair had grown out so that it fell natural around his face. It made him look older than she remembered. He smiled while he talked and the light reached his dark eyes.

"Really, you should take a few and bring them home to your family," the boy finished, grinning.

Home…

"Makai?" Kai asked hesitantly. (7)

The grin vanished and was replaced by a confused, sad look.

"How did you know that name? That's the nickname my…"

The boy stopped, seeming to take in Kai for the first time.

"Lani?" he whispered. "Lani, is that you?"

"Makani?" Kai said. (5)

That seemed to snap the boy out of his small trance, and before Kai's mind could register what was going on, she found two arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace.

After a moment's hesitation, she returned the hug.

"Kailani," the boy mumbled into her shirt.

Kai's throat closed so that she couldn't respond, so she simply hugged her brother tighter.

"We th—thought you were dead," the boy stuttered, finally peeling away from her but not completely letting go. "You disappeared, and, and…"

He buried his face in her shoulder again.

"I'm sorry," Kai murmured into his hair. "It's… a long story."

"Lani," the boy murmured again and then laughed, startling the bird-girl.

"You're back!" he yelled at the sky as if he couldn't contain his joy.

"Then why are you crying, idiot?" she laughed, feeling a little silly.

Her brother smirked. "I can ask you the same question, Lani."

Kai untangled one hand to reach up to her face. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this wetness streak down her face.

"I guess I'm just happy," she answered, shrugging.

Makani grinned and then exclaimed. "Mom's going to freak!"

"Where is she?" Kai asked, the nervousness coming back.

"She's in the house. Dad's at work," he explained, beginning to drag her towards the house.

Her anticipation was making her mind shut down again, so she said the first thing that came to mind. "You live here?"

"Yeah, it's so boring right? The neighborhood won't let us do anything to the outside. They're a bunch of old buzzards who wouldn't understand style even if it hit them over the head," he said, making a face but then his smile returned in full force. "But you should see the inside. There's one room we totally filled with sand and… What's wrong?"

Kai was only following her brother half-heartedly, her steps getting slower until they stopped completely.

She stared up at the unfamiliar house. "It's been so long. Things change you know, Makai."

"Things like your eyes?" Makani asked.

Kai had forgotten about the strange purple that now colored her eyes as a result of the gene splicing. "That's part of it…" she said slowly.

Her brother frowned and then walked close to her.

Kai looked apprehensively at the door and then back at her brother.

Cocking his head, Makani let another grin spread across his face as he gave her a shaka. (6)

Kai's abnormal eyes widened and then creased as she laughed at her brother's favorite gesture.

Makani joined in with her laughter, and this time, Kai allowed herself to be dragged towards the porch.

As if the picking up on her brother's hand gesture, the wind seemed to whisper its message over and over in her ears as all the tension drained out of her body.

_No worries…_

**The End**

**Wow, that's the end! I can't believe it! It's been so fun writing this story so it's kind of bitter sweet that it has to end, but it can't go on forever right? Anyways, thank you to everyone who has read and especially thank you to those of you who have been with me since the beginning since your reviews kept me going. I have no sequel planned for this. I kind of like the ending just where it is, but if you have some suggestions for sequels, you can review or PM me your ideas. I'm not making any promises, but I'll gladly consider some ideas. **

**(1) Annabeth had said something similar right before their kiss in the Dining Pavilion in **_**The Last Olympian. **_**This was before their dump into the lake and underwater kiss.  
>(2) Vintex is a completely made up company.<br>(3) Plumeria is a Hawaiian flower with a really sweet scent.  
>(4) Aloha is the Hawaiian greeting, but it can also mean "love."<br>(5) Makani means "wind."  
>(6) Shaka is the name for the Hawaiian hand signal that is most commonly known to mean "hang loose," but it can also mean "no worries."<br>(7) Little short story/background on the name Makai… Kailani doesn't like nicknames, but Makani insisted on shortening her name to only "Lani." Kailani in turn gave him the nickname "Makai" because she claimed that she needed to put the "Kai" part of her name somewhere so she added it on to her brother's name.**

**Thank you all!**

**~Bluesky21543**


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